The Majestic *** (2001, Jim Carrey, Martin Landau, Bob Balaban, Matt Damon, Jeffrey DeMunn, Hal Holbrook, Laurie Holden) – Classic Movie Review 4913

Director Frank Darabont’s honourable 2001 drama stars Jim Carrey as Peter Appleton, an ambitious movie screenwriter in early 1950s America, who falls victim to the communist witch-hunts. He crashes his car, loses his memory and ends up in a small town where he is mistakenly identified as a World War Two hero, the long-lost son of Harry Trimble (Martin Landau).

Putting away the slapstick, a confident Jim Carrey is first rate as a James Stewart-style everyman character in this impressive and well-meaning but drawn-out (152 minutes) fact-based drama, with a theme and a Hollywood blacklist topic that need constant reminders.

It is all beautifully produced and quite nicely done but somehow not quite inspiring or moving enough. Michael Sloane’s script is way over-extended in running time, leading Darabont to slacken the pace and hand in a film that lacks focus and tension. Still, the film has a heart, a brain and a conscience and is very welcome for all three.

And, alas, nobody much really wanted to know. On a huge $72 million cost, it grossed on $27 million in the US. So it was not one of Carrey’s or Darabont’s successes.

Also in the cast are Matt Damon, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey DeMunn, Hal Holbrook, Laurie Holden, Brent Briscoe, Gerry Black, David Ogden Stiers, James Whitmore, Susan Willis, Catherine Dent, Brian Howe, Karl Bury, Chelcie Ross, Amanda Detmer, Allen Garfield, Daniel von Bargen, Shawn Doyle, Mario Roccuzzo, Frank Collison and Bill Gratton.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 4913

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