EdTV Review

Ed Pekurny, Matthew McConaughey, works in a San Francisco video store and secretly covets Shari, Jenna Elman, girlfriend of his more confident brother, Ray, Woody Harrelson. When a local cable tv station dreams up the idea of a round the clock life-as-it-is programme, the brothers volunteer and Ed is chosen. Finding himself on tv day and night naturally changes Ed`s life - but it makes his blossoming romance with Shari particularly difficult... It`s hard to escape memories of THE TRUMAN SHOW while watching EdTV. Certainly there are differences: Truman was unaware he was on air, Ed is all too aware. But otherwise, the points being made about manipulative media and the price of fame come across as all too familiar. As you`d expect, Ron Howard injects a fair amount of comedy into the story, and gets generally good performances from his cast - Matthew McConaughey has never been better, Martin Landau, as his wheelchair bound stepfather, has all the best lines, and there`s solid support from Rob Reiner, as the head of the studio, Ellen DeGeneres, as the producer who devises the programme and Elizabeth Hurley as an alluring `date` arranged for Ed by the studio. On the other hand, Jenna Elfman is a rather lacklustre heroine, so that perhaps we don`t feel for her situation as much as we should. Though it`s much, much too long, EdTV - which is based on a French/Canadian comedy - delivers some bright moments amid the deja vu.Margaret`s Comments:It`s as if when Truman escaped from his film a replacement needed to be found immediately and no-one could be bothered going through the birthing process, so they got Ed. Matthew McConaughey is suitably charismatic as Ed, Jenna Elfman gives texture to Shari. But as with so many films these days EdTV is way too long and its longeurs show. It`s least effective when it tries too hard to be funny, more effective when it takes itself seriously. But a biting satire EdTV is not. And that`s its problem, it`s caught on the horns of a dilemma - satire or romantic comedy ?It opts for the latter when it most probably would have been far more effective had it gone for the jugular. But there are laughs in the film, it`s quite enjoyable, it`s just not nearly as interesting a film as The Truman Show.