Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Truman Show, The

Universal acclaim
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 79 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Fantasy
Written by: Andrew Niccol
Directed by: Peter Weir
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 5, 1998
DVD: January 26, 1999
Running Time: 103 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for thematic elements and mild language
Starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone, Holland Taylor, and Ed Harris
Twenty-nine years ago, a baby boy was adopted by the OmniCam Corporation to become the subject of the most popular television show of all time. His name is Truman Burbank. (Paramount Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Dead Poets Society Gallipoli Green Card Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World The Last Wave The Mosquito Coast The Year of Living Dangerously Witness
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Variety Todd McCarthy
A gemlike picture crafted with rare and immaculate precision.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Delicately subversive, hypnotically sardonic, full of terror, banality and wafer-thin lyricism.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Rita Kempley
One of the smartest, most inventive movies in memory, it manages to be as endearing as it is provocative.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
That rare cinematic experience-a movie so close to pure perfection that it seems a shame to spoil it by even reading a review beforehand.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Weir's offbeat directing makes the most of Andrew Niccol's inventive screenplay, which includes large doses of surprisingly sardonic satire aimed at today's entertainment trends.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
I enjoyed The Truman Show on its levels of comedy and drama; I liked Truman in the same way I liked Forrest Gump--because he was a good man, honest, and easy to sympathize with.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A beautifully sinister and transfixing entertainment-age daydream.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
A sunny-looking movie about the darkest paranoia.
Read Full Review >Film.com Sean Means
A brilliant and daring film.
TNT RoughCut Graham Verdon
An exhilarating, fascinating story about the amazing and horrifying depth we are sinking toward as we strain to raise the entertainment bar another notch.
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The Truman Show is a reminder of the Beckett theme. The screenplay by Andrew Niccol starts from something like Beckett's abstraction and reifies it with details of contemporary culture, then moves on into fantasy. [June 29, 1998]
Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
The Truman Show is one of the films for which the '90s will be remembered, and it is not to be missed.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
Hollywood's smartest media satire in years--and a breakthrough for Jim Carrey.
Read Full Review >Film.com Tom Keogh
Achieves a kind of beauty through its overlaying enigmas, and Carrey.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
The result is a rarity on any screen: intelligent fun.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Funny... and the payoff is the most provocative Hollywood concoction in a while.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner G. Allen Johnson
A crowd pleaser that caters to our horror of totalitarianism, our love of personal freedom, our belief - justified or deluded - that knowledge is a powerful tool and that access to information is a God-given right.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
A sharp-witted, visually layered, gorgeously designed, meticulously directed piece of formula pablum.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Peter Rainer
The film is a nightmare but an oddly comforting one.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Carrey is a genius at registering the rage behind television's sunny smile, while Laura Linney excels as his wife.
Read Full Review >Film.com Robert Horton
A smart, engaging movie.
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
Warm, affecting and refreshingly shtickless, he (Carrey) occupies center stage here through sheer, beguiling force of personality.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
An appealing, offbeat, one-hundred minute diversion for those who really are tired of monsters tearing down buildings and action heroes saving the world.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
A cool indictment of television's near-irresistible pandering to the inner peeping tom.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Undeniably provocative and reasonably entertaining, The Truman Show is one of those high-concept movies whose concept is both clever and dumb.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The film is unfortunately about little more than its potentially mind-boggling plot and structure.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
It's unusually provocative and challenging for a Hollywood movie and, surprisingly, allows the audience to piece things together without too much external direction.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 79 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
lol riffic gave it a10:
All you tools that don't have the brain power to understand the simples plot of The Truman Show should go back to your tool racks and rust. And for all you kids crying about there not being action in the move, it's because IT"S NOT AN ACTION MOVIE!
Frank gave it a10:
All you kids that get lost and confused in the movie should go back to school. The movie was excellent, and the cinematography and script is outstanding. And to all you people that got bored of it because there was no action, IT'S BECUASE IT ISN'T AN ACTION MOVIE! Gtfo the internet and go back to your hole you trolls.
Joey gave it a10:
A masterpiece. In the beginning you feel lulled into a false sense of security about the crafted world Truman is placed in. From a wonderful start to a very emotional ending, the Truman Show is by far one of my favorite movies ever. The last few reviews seem to be posted by the same 12 year old, though. Don't take them seriously. This is a brilliant and original film.
Grace gave it a10:
One of the best movies I've ever seen. Jim Carrey actually plays a character instead of just Jim Carrey. It's clever and even though it's old, it's awesome.
Shokz gave it a9:
The problem, it seems, is that the only low scores come from people that have failed to grasp the plot and / or only enjoy watching things blow up. If you're too simple to understand the film then feel free to pass through without rating.
[Anonymous] gave it a5:
I did not like the move. There was no action. It was a fake world that was made for one person. He was looking for an old girl friend. The best part of the movie is when his wife threaten to kill him with a knife-cheese grader-potato peeler.
Taylor R gave it a6:
I liked to movie, but it had some weird parts. I liked what the movie was about. I didn't like the picture color of the movie. I didn't like how they were being mean to Truman. It was weird how they trapped him in his own world. Also, I didn't like how his wife is mean and a freak.
