Director
Ron Howard returns with his first film since the Mel Gibson kidnapping caper Ransom.
I'm pleased to report that Ed T.V. is much better than that film. As a Howard
comedy, it also surpasses the dull Gung Ho, but comes nowhere near the comic brilliance
of Parenthood (which I consider Howard's best).
Matthew
McConaughey plays Ed, a fun loving Texan who allows a network to film every second
of his life for a show called True T.V.
As
you've probably heard, this film greatly resembles the Peter Weir-Jim Carrey vehicle
The Truman Show. The difference here is that Howard has taken a comic approach,
whereas Weir went for satire. But the biggest difference is that Ed knows he's
being filmed and Truman doesn't. Weir's film was an imaginative comment on the
power of the media, while Howard's movie comes across as a sporadically amusing
sitcom. Not that Ed T.V. is bad--it does offer some very funny moments, but it
never really seems to pay off.
McConaughey
(who is finally properly cast after playing a wide-eyed lawyer in Amistad and
a priest testing his faith in Contact) seems to fit the bill as the likable lead
character. Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg) is an absolute delight and the chemistry
between her and McConaughey helped to keep the film afloat. Ellen DeGeneres is
virtually unwatchable as a smarmy television executive. Her one-liners are completely
forced and pretentious. The rest of the supporting cast is quite effective; namely,
Woody Harrelson as Ed's brother, Martin Landau as Ed's stepfather, and Rob Reiner
as the head of the T.V. network.
Ron
Howard has fashioned a straight forward comedy that never really takes any chances.
It's a far cry from the comic heights of The Paper or Parenthood, but it is charming
in its own way. And I never felt compelled to walk out of the theater, as I did
during Baby Geniuses.
