For the second time this Christmas season, the critics have dropped the ball, panning "The Majestic" despite its being a very good movie. ("Vanilla Sky" also got dissed by critics, but it too is impressive.)
Jim Carrey proves once again that he is a fantastic actor, adding this to semi-serious roles in "The Truman Show" and "Man on the Moon." Likewise, Frank Darabont adds a third solid directorial performance, branching out from behind the walls of Stephen King's prisons. The supporting cast, filled with "I know I've seen him or her somewhere before!"-type character actors, is equally adept. Technically, the movie is very solid, if not unspectacular.
Of course the critics and many on the IMDb have lambasted this movie, generally for the "schmaltz" factor. But seeing as how it's a send-off to the Capracorn classics of the 1930s and 1940s, schmaltz isn't really a factor at all, unless it were to be completely overbearing, which it is not.
Going in, it is helpful to think Capra. Because the movie really does combine that famed director's best elements: The lone everyman fighting a corrupt or unjust system, patriotism in the forms of dying for the country and studying its founding documents, and a final, climactic, triumphant speech.
And "The Majestic" pays off in spades. Jim Carrey's performance as the everyman is no Jimmy Stewart, but it is still an A+, Oscar-worthy performance. He fights the corrupt and unjust McCarthy unAmerican activities committee. But on his way from being accused to standing before the committee, he has an amnesia-inducing accident. He washes up on the shores of a small town that mistakes him for one of its sons who was lost in World War II.
Not sure of who he is, Carrey's character accepts the adulation and helps rebuild the town's historic movie theatre, the Majestic. With it, he rebuilds the town's spirits, which had been shattered after losing dozens of children in the War.
But when his memory comes back - coinciding with his "father"s death - revealing he is really a blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter accused of being a communist. The town - including the fallen soldier's fiancee and now Carrey's girlfriend - turns on him , and he is arrested by the FBI.
Now he has to decide whether to capitulate and renounce being a communist or stand before the committee and fight for what he knows is right.
The movie is full of patriotic gestures, including a moment of silence for the men lost in WWII, and Carrey's epic speech before the committee is reminiscent of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." The respect and adoration given to the Constitution is tantamount to any of Capra's movies, and Carrey's homecoming to the same small town is "It's a Wonderful Life" in a slightly different setting.
Yes, it's sappy. Yes it's schmaltzy. But so was Capra. And his films are regarded to today as cinematic classics. Indeed, "Mr. Smith" is still watched in high school government classes to this day, and what adult hasn't watched "It's a Wonderful Life" at least once?
"The Majestic" is nothing more than a Frank Capra film with different cast and different director, filmed in color. Carrey adds a few touches, and Darabont's style is more flashy than Capra's, but nonetheless, it is an optimistic and satisfying film about triumphing over adversity. It's a film that should go down as one of the first films to help America recover from the Sept. 11 attacks.
But thanks to narrow-minded critics and cynicists who believe optimism should be relegated to black and white, "The Majestic" will go down as one of the most underrated movies of the decade.
10/10
Jim Carrey proves once again that he is a fantastic actor, adding this to semi-serious roles in "The Truman Show" and "Man on the Moon." Likewise, Frank Darabont adds a third solid directorial performance, branching out from behind the walls of Stephen King's prisons. The supporting cast, filled with "I know I've seen him or her somewhere before!"-type character actors, is equally adept. Technically, the movie is very solid, if not unspectacular.
Of course the critics and many on the IMDb have lambasted this movie, generally for the "schmaltz" factor. But seeing as how it's a send-off to the Capracorn classics of the 1930s and 1940s, schmaltz isn't really a factor at all, unless it were to be completely overbearing, which it is not.
Going in, it is helpful to think Capra. Because the movie really does combine that famed director's best elements: The lone everyman fighting a corrupt or unjust system, patriotism in the forms of dying for the country and studying its founding documents, and a final, climactic, triumphant speech.
And "The Majestic" pays off in spades. Jim Carrey's performance as the everyman is no Jimmy Stewart, but it is still an A+, Oscar-worthy performance. He fights the corrupt and unjust McCarthy unAmerican activities committee. But on his way from being accused to standing before the committee, he has an amnesia-inducing accident. He washes up on the shores of a small town that mistakes him for one of its sons who was lost in World War II.
Not sure of who he is, Carrey's character accepts the adulation and helps rebuild the town's historic movie theatre, the Majestic. With it, he rebuilds the town's spirits, which had been shattered after losing dozens of children in the War.
But when his memory comes back - coinciding with his "father"s death - revealing he is really a blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter accused of being a communist. The town - including the fallen soldier's fiancee and now Carrey's girlfriend - turns on him , and he is arrested by the FBI.
Now he has to decide whether to capitulate and renounce being a communist or stand before the committee and fight for what he knows is right.
The movie is full of patriotic gestures, including a moment of silence for the men lost in WWII, and Carrey's epic speech before the committee is reminiscent of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." The respect and adoration given to the Constitution is tantamount to any of Capra's movies, and Carrey's homecoming to the same small town is "It's a Wonderful Life" in a slightly different setting.
Yes, it's sappy. Yes it's schmaltzy. But so was Capra. And his films are regarded to today as cinematic classics. Indeed, "Mr. Smith" is still watched in high school government classes to this day, and what adult hasn't watched "It's a Wonderful Life" at least once?
"The Majestic" is nothing more than a Frank Capra film with different cast and different director, filmed in color. Carrey adds a few touches, and Darabont's style is more flashy than Capra's, but nonetheless, it is an optimistic and satisfying film about triumphing over adversity. It's a film that should go down as one of the first films to help America recover from the Sept. 11 attacks.
But thanks to narrow-minded critics and cynicists who believe optimism should be relegated to black and white, "The Majestic" will go down as one of the most underrated movies of the decade.
10/10