Set in 1951, the era of McCarthyism, Carrey plays Peter Appleton, an apathetic screenwriter of no great talent. When he?s blacklisted for innocently attending a left-wing meeting as a student he gets blind drunk, drives off a bridge and ends up being washed up on the shore of small town Lawson where everyone believes he?s Luke, the son of cinema owner Harry Trimble, Martin Landau. The cinema called The Majestic has closed down because the town?s in the grip of grief at its losses from the war. Which is why Luke?s reappearance seems such a symbolic miracle. Dazed and amnesiac Peter reluctantly takes on the role of Luke who was Missing In Action, and becomes involved in revitalising the cinema and in the life of the town, rather willingly when it comes to being the beau of Adele, Laurie Holden. This ode to movie houses and the films that created magic in them also takes on the themes of the heydey of Hollywood ? honour, courage, integrity ? issues that resonate in the world of any era. But director Frank Darabont?s pace is so plodding, the film is way, way too long, that you have time to mull over its flaws. However, despite all that Jim Carrey for me is such a talent as he blends the shallow Peter with the mythically heroic Luke that he actually triumphs over any misgivings you might have about the plot or the treatment. And the music score is another plus in the film.
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