The Truman Show
Ever get the feeling you're being watched?
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The Truman Show
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Rated PG-13
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Starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris
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Directed by Peter Weir
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Paramount Pictures
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102 minutes
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Review by John Platt
 very second, from the moment he was born, 30-year-old Truman Burbank (Carrey) has been the unwitting star of the longest running, most popular documentary/soap opera in history: "The Truman Show."
The picture-perfect island town of Seahaven that Truman calls home is actually a gigantic soundstage. Truman's wife Meryl (Linney), his best friend Marlon (Emmerich), and even his "mother" (Holland Taylor) are actors. Truman lives every moment under the unblinking gaze of thousands of hidden TV cameras, all under the direction of the show's god-like creator/producer/director, Christof (Harris), whose control room is hidden within Seahaven's perpetually full moon.
Though seemingly content in this counterfeit society, Truman secretly longs for adventure, and hides a desire for a long-lost love: an idealistic young actress (Natascha McElhone) who had broken the rules by trying to tell Truman the truth, only to be whisked away by the show's ever-vigilant security team.
But Truman's fears keep him from daring ever to venture outside Seahaven. (Little does he know that many of those fears have been carefully nurtured in him over the years, including his phobia of the ocean...an especially effective deterrent to travel for an island dweller!)
Truman senses something's wrong, and his "paranoia" quickly grows deeper when a stage light falls from the sky and other production mishaps catch his attention. Realizing that he's caught like a butterfly in a jar, Truman determines that he must escape Seahaven, no matter the cost. But with everyone he trusts, the all-knowing Christof, and even the forces of "nature" working against him, Truman must summon every ounce of courage, wit and will if he's to have any hope of discovering the truth of his existence.
This ain't no Dumb & Dumber
The Truman Show is a refreshing, thought-provoking science fiction/fantasy/black comedy, and Jim Carrey finally proves that he can play in the dramatic/comedy big leagues with the likes of Robin Williams and Tom Hanks. The supporting cast is equally fine, especially Linney as Truman's too-cheery-to-be-trusted wife Meryl and Emmerich as the always-there-when-you-need-him, beer-toting pal Marlon. To watch Marlon swear his honesty to Truman while Christof feeds him lines through a hidden earphone is hysterical, heartbreaking, and thoroughly insidious. Ed Harris gives an incredibly subtle performance, provoking the audience to boo his villainy while still allowing them to understand and relate to his character.
Clearly, the film's intent is to raise questions about the meaning of reality, religion and the public's voyeuristic appetite for television. Though sometimes a bit heavy-handed in these regards, screenwriter Andrew (Gattaca) Niccol's well-paced script continues to surprise viewers with laugh-out-loud gags and interesting plot twists. Director Peter Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) and his production team have accomplished the difficult task of creating a "world" for Truman that is comically ludicrous, yet still believable...and sometimes even seductive.
But most of all, Jim Carrey's charismatic and sincere portrayal keeps the audience anxiously awaiting the outcome of what may be Truman's final episode. And though some viewers may feel disappointed by the film's decidedly understated finale, most will have thoroughly enjoyed getting there.
Unlike Forrest Gump, which preaches the bullsh*t people want to hear (be good and everything will work out fine), The Truman Show proclaims something people may not want to hear: stop believing television's lies and go live a real life! I personally think the American public likes the lies and can't bear the truth...and therefore Truman won't come anywhere close to the success of Gump...but I hope I'm proven wrong.
-- J.P.
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Sliders
The sliders finally find Quinn's Earth, but it's not what they're expecting
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Sliders
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Starring Jerry O'Connell, Cleavant Derricks, Kari Wuhrer, Charlie O'Connell
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The Sci-Fi Channel
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Mondays, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET
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Premieres June 8
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Review by Kathie Huddleston
 hat if you found a portal to a parallel universe? What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds? So starts the fourth season of Sliders, as Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell) and his ragtag band of travelers finally find their way back to their own Earth, only to discover that home isn't quite what it used to be.
Having gotten separated from Rembrandt (Derricks) and Wade at the end of the third season, Quinn and Maggie (Wuhrer) have been trying to get back to Quinn's Earth and find their friends for months. They arrive on Quinn's Earth to discover that their enemies--the Kromaggs--have taken over in Nazi-like fashion and that their friends are missing. The Kromaggs are evil yet highly evolved humans who slide to other worlds and conquer them.
With the help of resistance fighters, Quinn and Maggie discover that Rembrandt and Wade were taken to the Kromaggs' Re-Education Center. In a rescue attempt, they free Rembrandt, only to have Quinn taken. Quinn is tortured by the Kromaggs and discovers that Wade has been shipped off to a Kromagg breeder camp for cross-species replication.
In prison, Quinn finds his mother. As they are about to be separated, she confesses that he is not her biological son. His real parents were also sliders who were fighting the Kromaggs on their world. Concerned for Quinn's safety, they placed him with their doubles on Earth. Quinn also learns he has a brother, Colin Mallory (Charlie O'Connell, Jerry's real-life brother), who is living on an alternate Earth.
Now it's up to Rembrandt and Maggie to find a way to save Quinn, but can any of them save Earth from the evil Kromaggs?
Good ideas slide into average execution
Sliders has always had good ideas. From the beginning, the show's creators were clever when it came to bringing a T-Rex face to face with the sliders or exploring a world where men are the ones who give birth. As Sliders begins its fourth season on its new home on the Sci-Fi Channel, much has changed for the characters but not for the show itself.
While the ideas behind the episodes might be terrific, the writing, acting and production could be much better. In the season premiere, the show's creators start off with a good idea: The sliders get home only to find their home has been devastated during an invasion by the Kromaggs. However, as soon as the sliders arrive on Earth, what should be tragic events are glossed over. Resistance fighters and the sliders rescue Rembrandt, but leave behind other prisoners they could have saved. Quinn finally finds his real mother, but the reunion is hollow and forced. Worst of all, a major character, Wade, is written out with little emotion, considering what would be a particularly nasty fate.
In fact, many of the show's episodes have that hollow feeling. The worlds the sliders visit often don't feel populated, but rather two-dimensional and flat. It's as if the writers don't realize that a complication like the fact that Maggie can't breathe on Quinn's Earth could add great drama to an already tough situation. Instead, it's just an annoyance that the writers gloss over and get rid of too conveniently.
The character of Colin looks to be a good addition to the series, and the Kromaggs have great potential as continuing villains. But without any extra emotional edge and some good storytelling, it all seems a little bland.
Perhaps it's too much to expect a television show to be more than average and to reach the heights other shows have managed. It just seems like such a waste of the potential.
-- Kathie
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The Outsider
"Robots run amok in Gangster Land"
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The Outsider
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Starring Gabriel Dell Jr., Xavier Declie, Bridget Flanery, David Leisure
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Directed by David Bishop
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The Sci-Fi Channel
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June 13, 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET
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June 14, 3 p.m. ET
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June 20, 3 p.m. ET
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Review by Kathie Huddleston
 In the year 2028, Dr. Greenstreet (Leisure) has created Gangster World, the most popular theme park ever built. Run by the Donald 2000 (the park's mainframe computer), the park is filled with Robotic Carbon Units (RCUs) that exist to fulfill a guest's every wish within the gangster theme. The park has been so successful that crime in the real world has dropped 50 percent because guests can take out their violent tendencies on the park's RCUs.
Chief technicians Dr. Garland Widmark (Dell) and Dr. Lita Hayworth (Flanery) are on a test run checking out the park just hours before the Donald 2000 is set to be replaced by a new upgrade. Unfortunately, something has gone very wrong. An RCU (Declie) is loose and has attacked several guards. The RCU has one goal: find Garland and kill him.
Lita is enjoying herself, fighting with a gangster's moll (Stacy Williams), when the rogue RCU goes after Garland. Barely escaping, Garland comes to believe the RCU is an outsider, placed there by Gangster World's competition to sabotage the park before the upgrade.
Back at the control center, Garland tries to tell Greenstreet and security officer Alan Houston (Lindsey Lee Ginter) what's happening. Garland knows he must replace the Donald 2000 by midnight or the entire system will fry. However, Lita's been kidnapped and Garland may be the only one who can save her.
As the clock ticks toward midnight, Garland must find Lita and face the gangster RCUs and the Outsider before it's too late.
With fun and games, who needs logic?
The Outsider uses lots of gangster gags and plays on words to have fun with its subject matter. Written by Highsmith and Spiliotopoulos and directed by Bishop, the film doesn't take any of the material seriously. And that's just fine, because there are more plot holes in this film than the Mafia has bullets.
Not that there's any shortage of bullets. The action flies fast and furious as an army of RCUs dressed in gangster fashion leaps out at the heros, spurring things on and not giving the audience much time to think about why none of this makes any sense.
When Greenstreet radios security officer Houston and says, "Houston, we have a problem!" it's unexpected and funny and makes it easy to forget that crime would never drop by 50 percent due to a high-priced theme park that only rich people would be able to visit.
There is nothing new here, there are few special effects and the sets are basic. But none of that matters. The film's creators have taken old and tired material and made it fun again. While the script doesn't gel as far as the underlying logic, it's cleverly written, and the actors have fun with it. This is a movie where everyone is on the same page.
Dell and Declie have many nice moments as the computer programmer and the murderous robot. Flanery and Stacey Williams get to do more than just provide the standard window dressing in the girl roles. And David Leisure does his regular routine and fits in nicely, while Ginter has a blast as Houston.
Regardless of its small budget, The Outsider does what films should do. It entertains.
-- Kathie
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