EDtv

It's a shame that due to the timing of when Edtv was released, it was automatically deemed a pitiful copy of the Truman Show, a movie that won our hearts the previous year. Now, I love the Truman Show too, very much, and I'll admit that I was was very uninterested in ever seeing a copy-cat version of it. It was until just a few weeks ago that I actually watched Edtv (even with the expectation that I would most likely not like it too much) and I must say I was pleasantly surprised!

Not only was Edtv funny and entertaining, but it was nearly nothing at all like the Truman Show. I mean, the ONLY similarity is the idea of a live TV show about an "ordinary" guy. But Truman didn't even know he was on TV. He was just living what he thought was an ordinary life. All the cameras and microphones were completely hidden and he lived in a town that was entirely fabricated from his wife and life-long best friend, to the rain and even the sun. His is a story of a man searching for an escape from his everyday life, which little by little he is realizing may not be what it seems. Ed on the other hand was a nobody who was chosen to have a camera crew actually follow him around all day while he went on about his life. His life, and in turn the show, became more about instant celebrity as viewers became enchanted in watching this loser become a mega-star over night. People flocked around him just as much to meet him as to be on TV themselves and he endured some major struggles in keeping his life and relationships normal, which was impossible with his celebrity status and on-camera life.

Both movies had a theme of America's fixation with TV, and more specifically Reality TV, but have different plots and overall themes altogether. I think Edtv was a very enjoyable movie and Mathew McConaughey and Jenna Elfman delivered fantastic performances. Not to mention the mind boggling, and I think underrated, job of editing such an enormous amount of footage. Considering that while the film cameras were rolling, the video cameras were rolling too, and just about all of the video footage you see was actually shot when you see it being shot, I think that Ron Howard did a great job of keeping track of it all and actually making it work. So when someone says, "Well, it was no Truman Show" they are absolutely right. I think it is a great movie that stands on it's own and should stand proud.

Most of the comments here compare EdTV -- flatteringly or unflatteringly -- to The Truman Show. This is a totally invalid comparison in my opinion, unless you intend to compare opposites. EdTV is almost the opposite of The Truman Show. Where The Truman Show was about TV as the ultimate deception (a man is totally shielded from the real world, and his fictionalized life is exposed without his knowledge for the amusement of the masses), EdTV is about TV as the ultimate truth-teller (a man is totally revealed to the real world, and his real life is exposed with his full knowledge for the amusement of the masses). Perhaps they're flip sides of the same coin, but they are definitely flip sides...calling it any kind of imitation of The Truman Show misses the point of the film. Its the antithesis of The Truman Show.

As to quality, it is generally solid if not spectacular. There is a bit of a TV-ish quality to it...it would work just as well as a made-for-TV movie as on the big screen. It also suffers a little from some unbelievable moments showing how Ed can't have a private conversation with anyone without a camera six inches from his face. It's done for effect, but there's no reason the cameras couldn't have gotten the exact same picture from further away by simply zooming in. The performances are all pretty good. I especially liked Jenna Elfman as Ed's suddenly overexposed girlfriend. The screenplay is witty in places, if unremarkable.

All in all, a worthwhile look at an extreme example of the voyeuristic nature of modern entertainment. A good rental. I give it 7 out of 10.

EdTv is a comedy, but also a very serious movie: if you notice our reality in the present days, full of cameras watching us everywhere we go, and even the reality show programs, you will notice that the main thing in the movie is not only to entertain, but maybe also to alert people about the dangerous problems of all this stuff. Ed Pekurny is a regular guy who suddenly gets invited to be part of a reality show. He accepts,specially because he wants the money that the TV executives are going to pay him. Gradually, what starts being funny and even a nice way of popularity becomes a nightmare,with Ed not having any privacy at all,specially with his girlfriend Shari.

I found the end of this movie very cool. Go watch it :)

I wasn't expecting much of this when I went to see it, but I totally loved it.

Its misleading to try to compare it with the Truman Show. There's a superficial similarity in their basic concept, but otherwise they are completely different (and I loved Truman - still can't understand what the Academy thought it was doing).

There was not one dull moment, and at times I though I would pee myself laughing (and it takes a lot for me to say that to a world wide audience!) I don't remember laughing so much at the cinema since Speed 2 - but this time for the right reasons.

So it was funny, but there were also genuinely moving sad bits.

Martin Landau absolutely stole the film with some killer one-liners, but all the performances were fantastic (even Liz Hurley didn't make me cringe, as she poked fun at her own reputation) Ellen is great, as is Woody Harrelson (who looks uncannily like his on-screen brother) and I always love Adam Goldberg. Matt McConaughey is perfect, whether he's being a jerk or doing the right thing (oh OK, and damn cute with it.)

The whole thing is probably enhanced by being so utterly believable, and ends with a great anti-corporate finger (literally, in fact, now I think about it)

people who keep saying this is just like the truman show are stupid. it's completely different, and it didn't rip of anybody. both movies were probably being made at the same time. Truman Show has barely any similarities to EdTV. EDTV is a romantic comedy, light satire, and truman show is a drama. EdTV didn't get what it deserved at the box office and i respect howard whose direction is excellent, for releasing this movie when he did. Harrelson and Landau are hilarious and this is probably matthew's best performance i've seen of him. he really does a great job. jenna elfman too. Very funny, entertaining movie, and a great DVD. I laugh so hard when the camera man falls in the outtakes section of the bonus materials.