I saw a sneak preview of this movie, about a week before it was to officially open. I saw it at the Muvico Paradise theater, which is one of the worst places to see a movie at night. The crowds are loud and obnoxious. In fact, the worst moviegoing experience I ever had was when I saw "Hollow Man" one night in that theater. I almost never go to that theater at night. I usually go really early, like at the 10AM showing, or the ones around noon. After that, it's too crowded. I figured I'd take a chance anyway, because I figured that a sneak preview audience for this movie wouldn't be so bad, and for the most part, I was right. Unfortunately, there's always one bad apple, and this time, it came in the form of a woman who decided to bring her loud, screaming little kid. Who are these rude, inconsiderate people? It's so irritating that people have no regard for others. If you're reading this, and you're one of those people who bring your babies or little kids to the movies, please stop. Or if your kid starts making noise, leave the theater. Otherwise, you're just an asshole.
Okay, now that I got that off my chest...
"The Majestic" is one of Jim Carrey's serious movies. His luck hasn't been all that great in those kinds of roles. The first one was sorta in between serious and comedy. It was "The Truman Show," and it did well, but not as well as many would have thought. After that, he did "Man on the Moon," which flopped big time. Now there's "The Majestic," which is his most serious film to date, and it's also probably his best performance. I'm not sure if this movie is gonna do well, but I hope it does. I want Jim Carrey to do more serious movies. He certainly has the talent to do so.
That being said, I didn't totally love this movie. It was too corny, too slow, and it wasn't believable at all. There are certain aspects of the movie that I love, like the way that they ripped on the Hollywood blacklist, and the acting is outstanding, but it's just not enough.
This is one of those movies where they've been keeping a lot of what it's about under wraps. The movie (purposely and effectively) leaves you feeling confused about what's going on, but when the big secret is finally revealed, not only is it a bit of a disappointment, it doesn't seem plausible.
Aside from Jim Carrey, the only other big name in this movie is Martin Landau, who won an Oscar for his role as "Bela Lugosi" in "Ed Wood." He's very good, and he worked well with Carrey. I don't wanna get too into their relationship, because I may end up giving a few things away, but they have very good chemistry together. I would even call it moving. Laurie Holden plays Carrey's love interest in the movie. I don't recognize her, but she's done a lotta TV work, and she was in quite a few episodes of "The X Files" as "Marita Covarrubias." I can't say I remember her, though. She has these amazing eyes. Very striking. Also, there are some great cameos in the movie within the movie. Also, there are a few unexpected voice cameos that are very cool.
This movie was directed by Frank Darabont, the guy who wrote and directed "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile." He's a great writer and a great director, but this time, the writing was done by Michael Sloane. I never heard of him, but the first and only thing he's ever written aside from this was when he helped write "Hollywood Boulevard II," and that was way back in 1989. I don't think anyone is at fault here, maybe it's just me and the fact that I'm not into these kinds of movies. I'm sure there are plenty out there who will LOVE this movie. But I didn't. I liked it, I thought it was pretty good, but I didn't love it.
To put it
simply, if you like Frank Capra movies ("It's a Wonderful Life,"
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"), then you'll probably love "The
Majestic." This movie is basically a Frank Capra movie released in
the year 2001. But I'm much more cynical, and I hate corny movies. Still,
there's a lot to like, even for someone like me.