Hello World
(Source)
Simulacra films are always fun, but are hard to make well. The Truman Show did it pretty well, but not perfectly.
Plot:
The plot is really in two spheres. The internal sphere is a utopian town called Seahaven in which the main character, Truman, has grown up. What he doesn't know is that the world he has lived in from day one is filled with actors, extras, effects and thousands of hidden cameras. He is the only genuine person in the face town. Over time, oddities in his life begin appearing until he wakes up to the fact that his entire reality is fake. The outer sphere are the millions of worldwide fans who follow the 24/7 live feed of what they know as "The Truman Show".
Acting:
Jim Carrey is pretty good here. The rest of the acting inside Seahaven was cheesy, but intentionally so because they were playing the roles of actors.
My issues with it:
The storytelling was incredibly "on-the-nose". It would have upped the "creepy factor" if the things wrong with the world were smaller and less frequent. Maybe don't drop a spotlight on the street in the first 5 minutes yeah? Also, there are a series of plot holes which do not make much sense. If the staff of the show were able to manipulate it enough to create semi-sophisticated plot lines, they absolutely would have been able to fix some of the problems before they existed.
Review: 6/10
A much more realistic version of a simulation universe, but still plagued with painfully clear elements that would have served the story better by being more subtle. Show, but don't tell.
