Due to the required length of time to create a film, Ron Howard's latest movie was already in process well before The Truman Show came out last summer. Regardless, similarities between these two recent films have raised contention that EdTV is a mere rip-off of that other show. A less-endowed cousin is more accurate.
Former childhood star Ron Howard has been directing movies for years. His most successful effort was the NASA space saga Apollo 13, which was based on the true story of courageous American astronauts and the heroic efforts to rescue them. Whereas that movie had real ambition and suspense, EdTV is more like a step back to his cute but less aspiring works, such as Splash and Cocoon.
EdTV centers around
a video store clerk named Ed, likeably played by Matthew McConaughey, who
wins a national search to become the star of a reality show that follows
his life 24 hours a day. Complications ensue when Ed falls in love with
his brother's fiance, Shari (in a sympathetic performance from Jenna Elfman),
which causes the struggling show's ratings to rise. Although genuinely
in love with Ed, Shari can't stomach their relationship being the subject
of polls and widespread attention, and she bows out until Ed's contract
is over. Temptations to unfaithfulness arise in the form of Elizabeth Hurley,
a model turned actress playing a model. She is encouraged to seduce Ed
by the True TV executives who own the show. In an ongoing subplot, even
Ed's family becomes the subject of televised scrutiny when his mother's
indiscretions are revealed. Watching his family and romantic life disintegrating,
Ed realizes that the price of fame is not worth the cost, and
he attempts to get out of
his binding contract.
The basic concept and conventions shared by EdTV and The Truman Show are broadcasting one person's life as a TV show and viewing the audiences who watch them. However, the two widely diverge in tone, suspense, and overall success. The Truman Show pitted a noble and innocent character trapped in a contrived world against a conspiracy of silence forced by the ominous show creator. Ed, an average joe with little ambition in life, is initially a willing partner in his TV exploitation which takes place outside a studio. As the movie itself suggests, EdTV is like MTV's Real World, though focused only on one person and without the heavy editing and rock music overdubs. Although both Truman and Ed are portrayed with a degree of charm by the actors, Truman is ultimately the more sympathetic character because he is truly a victim of his bizarre circumstances. We enjoy wondering and witnessing how he'll break free. The Truman Show worked because it created suspense and intrigue. Will Truman find out about his unusual predicament? What will he do when he finds out? What does all this say about our own world? There are no such comparisons in EdTV, only the obvious realization that fame, like power, corrupts.
Instead, EdTV leans more toward a romantic comedy where lovers are frustrated by invasion of privacy. Ed and Shari's romance is moderately satisfying movie stuff, but does not engender much mystery or satisfaction. Scatological references abound, and dirt on everyone is dug up and flung about for audience amusement. In true tawdry talk-show fashion, Howard even taunts the audience to revel in Ed's possible fornication with the glamorous model Jill. This simply does not work. On the one hand, Howard wants to excite us about Ed's sexually charged liaison and cheer this bad behavior. Yet Howard knows Ed can't follow through on this desire if the audience is going to accept Ed's inevitable reconciliation with Shari. The result is a scene of misplaced titillation. Jerry Springer would be proud.
Cinematically, EdTV is more modest with fewer special effects and less grandly panoramic scenes. The camera crew has done an excellent job conveying both how invasive having your life filmed would be and the frenetic life of TV employees. The show's scope, however, is more mundane and less fantastical than the larger, more fully portrayed vision captured in The Truman Show.
In addition to the fine performances by leads McConaughey and Elfman, Martin Landau is endearing and enjoyable as a tender wheelchair-bound stepfather. Extra points are awarded for the inspired casting choice of Woody Harrelson as Ed's brother Ray, as the two look like they could really be related. The rest of the cast are relegated to bit parts or stock, unmemorable roles. As Cynthia, the show's producer, Ellen DeGeneres has a sudden change of heart toward the end of the movie that is not substantially motivated.
In the end, EdTV amusingly points an ironic finger at dysfunctional families, reality-based television, talk shows, and our culture's cult of personality. You might laugh a little, but it is less likely you'll come away being truly intrigued, enticed, or inspired.
Steven Stuart Baldwin (4/29/99)
