Truman Show, The

Variety Todd McCarthy

A gemlike picture crafted with rare and immaculate precision.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Delicately subversive, hypnotically sardonic, full of terror, banality and wafer-thin lyricism.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

One of the smartest, most inventive movies in memory, it manages to be as endearing as it is provocative.

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

An original, inspired piece of work.

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.

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.

Newsweek Jeff Giles

A miraculous movie. It will rattle both your head and heart

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A beautifully sinister and transfixing entertainment-age daydream.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A sunny-looking movie about the darkest paranoia.

Film.com Sean Means

A brilliant and daring film.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Adventurous, provocative, even daring.

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.

Time Richard Corliss

Hollywood's smartest media satire in years--and a breakthrough for Jim Carrey.

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.

USA Today Mike Clark

Funny... and the payoff is the most provocative Hollywood concoction in a while.

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.

Slate David Edelstein

A sharp-witted, visually layered, gorgeously designed, meticulously directed piece of formula pablum.

Dallas Observer Peter Rainer

The film is a nightmare but an oddly comforting one.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Carrey is a genius at registering the rage behind television's sunny smile, while Laura Linney excels as his wife.

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.

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.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A cool indictment of television's near-irresistible pandering to the inner peeping tom.

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.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The film is unfortunately about little more than its potentially mind-boggling plot and structure.

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.