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'Majestic' may make amnesia popular
Not too many viewers will long remember this schmaltzy, sentimental saga, but actor Jim Carrey may be hoping that Academy Award voters have longer, more pleasant memories of the film.
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 20, 2001
[Photo: Castle Rock]
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Somebody should tell Jim Carrey that his pensive gazes and noble glances in The Majestic are unlikely to add up to an Oscar nomination.
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The Majestic makes it abundantly clear that Jim Carrey will do anything to grab that elusive first Academy Award nomination: even start playing the Academy's game.
Doing fine work in a film that makes viewers think, like The Truman Show, didn't do it. Channeling the spirit of a dead celebrity such as Andy Kaufman should have been a lock. But Oscar voters have been Grinches when it comes to recognizing what a good actor Ace Ventura can be.
So, Carrey resorts to The Majestic, a splashy period piece filled with more corn than the Green Giant's valley: romantic corn, patriotic corn, underdog corn and that forgettable cliche, amnesia. Comedy is out of the question unless one of Carrey's expressions reminds you of an earlier role. Match that strategy with director Frank Darabont, who works as if he qualifies for an award just by showing up, and you have an annoyingly calculated Oscar contender.
Each scene appears tailored for use as a clip when the nominations are read. Blending them into a tighter narrative -- this movie is nearly an hour too long -- would be more appreciated. But the running time is probably part of the plan; size matters in Hollywood if you want to make a film seem more important.
Carrey's character, Peter Appleton, should know that. He's a screenwriter in 1951 who still gets a kick from seeing his name on a movie poster. Peter has a good thing going until the House Un-American Activities Committee starts its witchhunt and puts hundreds of careers at stake. Being a Communist was once trendy. Now it's career-threatening.
[Photo: Castle Rock]
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Harry Trimble (Martin Landau) believes the stranger is his son, a World War II soldier missing in action.
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Peter has a slim connection to one Socialist group, so he comes under suspicion. After soaking his sorrows in whiskey, he takes a drive and winds up crashing his car. Peter emerges without any memory, discovered by a citizen of Lawson, Calif., the most unbelievably nice town this side of Pleasantville. Everyone thinks Peter looks familiar, then kindly Harry Trimble (Martin Landau in full bloom) pegs it: This stranger must be his son Luke, a World War II veteran missing in action.
We know that isn't true, but Peter doesn't, and therefore any suspense about the dilemma is diluted. The audience simply rides out Peter's unintentional charade until the witchhunters show up, dashing everyone's dreams of a happy ending to wartime grief. The time is occupied by Luke's girlfriend Adele (Laurie Holden) plus efforts to renovate the Majestic movie theater owned by the Trimbles and closed since the war.
There are so many misty moments in The Majestic that the projector might rust. Whether or not viewers fall for them depends on how desperate they are for a mild cry. Darabont's sentimental nature worked better in the unlikely setting of prison in The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. In the outside world, such saccharine drama doesn't work.
But, boy, how Carrey tries to sell us on this schmaltz. Stripped of his comic reflexes, he settles for perpetual wistfulness and the occasional noble stare. He doesn't have the world-weary demeanor beneath the brave smiles that Jimmy Stewart would have brought the role when this movie should have been made, or Tom Hanks could do now. The Majestic and its star fervently believe they live up to the movie's title. What's worse, amnesia or delusion?
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The Majestic
- Grade: C
- Director: Frank Darabont
- Cast: Jim Carrey, Martin Landau, Laurie Holden, Allen Garfield, Bob Balaban
- Screenplay: Michael Sloane
- Rating: PG; profanity, mature themes
- Running time: 144 min.
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