The Majestic (2001)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Jim Carrey did a fantastic and believable job in his dramatic role as screenwriter Peter Appleton in this touching patriotic movie. I love this movie and have watched it many times, often inviting friends to watch it. Invariably, they are also delighted and overwhelmed by Carrey's acting and that of the artfully performing supporting cast. I am disappointed that the reviews at the time of the movie came out were quite good but the box office earnings was poor. Perhaps the public did not believe that Jim Carrey could perform a movie role without being silly, comedic or vulgar. But he can, and he should have gotten much more recognition from Hollywood for his superb acting in this deserving cinematic effort without his usual tactics. I believe he did an Oscar performance. Jim, if you ever read this, please do more dramatic roles like this. Don't cheat the public from your talent and ability, which is to make us believe, make us enter into your world as we did in the world of Peter Appleton and Lawson, California.

OK this isn't exactly the most original idea ever and the whole thing feels a bit like an extended 'Twilight Zone' episode (one of the more sensible ones), but this truly is a beautiful film with the kind of performances that are guaranteed to make you smile. A simple tale set in the 50's, a young man is accused of being a Communist and his life is turned upside down. One night he gets slightly drunk and drives his car off a bridge accidentally and ends up almost drowning. He gets washed up on the shores of a small town where he is believed to be a WWII soldier killed years before.This is complete and utter American pie through n through and I mean that in the best way possible. Generally things like this can be quite sickening with all the Stars n Stripes patriotism and this does have that, truth be told this actually has more treacly gooey hanky moments than you can shake a stick at. There is also the element of the all American Communist witch hunts which is the whole plot beneath the surface. Its only kinda touched on really but its played out in a typically heroic way for the main character in the end. You think he will submit to the government, a government of so called democracy, but he fights for truth and justice and the American way. Yes the finale is a bit too vomit inducing for us non Americans. What works for me is the pure visual spectacle of the film with the typically quaint white building built US town set amongst the glorious Californian woodlands on the pacific coast. In short this film looks stunning, its made to look extremely whimsical of course but it works. The era makes this work even better as the sight of old classic US cars cruising around, small diners, the smart fashions, jazz/big band music etc...give the film a very homely taste that I think anyone (more so adults probably) can enjoy.The cast is another reason to like this film, how can you not enjoy seeing Martin Landau in a brilliantly moving role. I loved 'Ed Wood' and this yet another portrayal of angst and heartbreak but even stronger than before. Gerry Black also gives us a lovely performance for the old caretaker of the Majestic, his gravelly raspy voice draws you in whilst his cheeky grin is heartwarming. James Whitmore has a small role but he sure fits in well, performance is perfect as is his costume and character design, looks good with the pipe. To be honest all the main roles are played well by a host of solid actors, many I have seen before and merely know by face, reliable character actors.Then we have Mr Carrey, to be honest a brave move as before this he was known only for his comedies. This doesn't mean he was the right choice of course, in my opinion he can't quite handle the kind of serious emotion involved here (at least at this period in his career) and you can see it. A case of being type cast for over the top crazy ass characters or idiots, due to this you keep half expecting him to do something or say something daft. Carrey never really looks too comfortable in this film surrounded by proper quality character actors, he was yet to break away from his over acting lunacy.A charming nostalgic film that manages to homage the golden age of small town 50's America and the classic (and much missed) age of big regal looking cinemas, but is also a stirring tribute to the fallen of WWII. It is extremely clichéd and cheesy, love it or hate it I doubt there will be any middle ground here. It really does pull all the obligatory heart strings to get you choked up, every old trick in the mushy book, but damn it...it works!7/10

The letter the main character (voiced by Matt Damon) reads on a train ride back to LA near the end of the movie, which was supposedly written by the WWII character Luke to the female lead, Adele, is a near copy, sometimes verbatim, of one found by Ken Burns as he was researching his series, Civil War. I do not think this fact was acknowledge in the credits and I was disappointed. Hence, the 5 point rating here. This production team should know better. It is not copyrighted material, true, but is is easily found with the simplest search. (Google Sullivan Balou) and should have been acknowledged.Otherwise, I liked the movie even if it was a bit schmaltzy, It was a good effort to make some first amendment points. I only wish it had been a bigger hit with the young set.

I absolutely love Jim Carrey as an actor, and generally I think he is good at picking his roles. So I went into this hopeful. And when I first started watching this movie, I thought it looked promising.But gradually it just turned more and more cheesy and corny. At one point I honestly thought it was an elaborate parody of a feel-good film spiraling into the silly, but that was not the case. This film is so horribly sweet that if you're more than, probably 16 years old or something like that and somewhat critical when it comes to films, you won't be able to take this garbage seriously. It could probably have turned out to be a good film, but I guess they wanted to sweeten it up. It's obviously trying to be a new Shawshank Redemption, and it fails miserably. I would not recommend this film to anyone.