Hey folks, looks like long time LA spy Agent Kushing got a chance to check out EDtv last night, and he seemed to love it. While the trailers haven't done all that much for me personally, I've been looking forward to the screening coming up at the Paramount during SXSW because I think Ron Howard probably has a real intimate understanding of what Television can do to one's life. I mean... how many people still think of him as Opie or Richie Cunningham? The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days really formed my thoughts as to who Ron Howard is... That's kinda scary really though as he could be completely different from those personas. I can't remember Richie or Opie being Space Nuts or into Sword and Sorcery or Oklahoma Land Rushes or Kidnapping... Of course I didn't see every single episode. But I'll tell ya, when I got Ron's answering machine message this weekend... it was weird. I could imagine him physically saying everything he said on the answering machine. I'm supposed to give him a call back tomorrow, so that'll be interesting. Anyway... Here's Agent Kushing's review... If you were at last night's screening... write in at Talk Back and share your thoughts on the film.... Sounds good so far...
Oh... there are LOTS OF SPOILERS in this review, and I'd like to correct one thing in Agent Kushing's review... He talks about this as being a summer film... but it's coming out March 26 here in the US. While it is unseasonably warm here in Austin... I don't yet believe it to be summer...
I just got back from an Ed TV screening and I have a lot to say.
I must admit that I went into the movie a bit doubtful. I thought that I had already seen this movie with the Truman Show and Pleasantville, but boy was I wrong.
In a one word review of this movie, it was, "awesome."
Seriously, this movie just kicked ass. It was perfect. I equate this movie to the period in the 80's when everyone was making movies about role reversals or juxtaposition of character (Back to School, Like Father like Son, Big, etc.) I think that Truman Show and Pleasantville were fair attempts at this new genre, but Ed TV was the Big of the bunch. It was perfect. No DisRESPECT to Rodney of course. I love him! That's a different review though.
I really can't descibe how good this movie was. I went in thinking that it was going to be stupid. The only reason I went, was because I had free passes and I was going to sneak into another movie afterwords. This movie filled every hole and void that was left with Truman Show. The premise is almost identical. Only this time, the main character knows that he is on tv 24/7 from scene one/act one.
You know how when you watched the Truman show and about 30 minutes into the movie, it really started? You know that scene that depicts Truman at birth and how he was an orphan and how he has been the biggest tv star in the world for 30 years, only he didn't know it? I personally thought that should have been the opening scene of the film. Then go on with the rest of the film. Even though I knew the story of Truman Show before going in, I was confused by the way the story actually unfolded.
Ed Tv is different. The opening scene of the movie shows Ed and Woody Harrelson (brother's) in a bar that is hosting auditions for True TV ( a take off of Real TV) The premise is that they are going to select one guy and follow him around 24/7. They show the executives and the producers actually making the decisions, the casting considerations, the demographics, everything that would really go into selecting the right person.
Well, Ed(McConaghey) gets selected and as expected. He becomes an instant sensation. The movie shows in a very realistic way how every involved in Ed's world becomes affected. His family, friends, co-workers, the people that watch the show, and the executives behind the show. The movie is very carefully crafted as it goes back and forth from live ED TV to audiences around the globe who are hooked, to his family to the executives. every single demographic is covered here. There are chefs who watch, a bar that only has ED TV on and the skeptics who bet on whether or not this is scripted, a gay couple, a sorority, some high school kids, a prison, even Jay Leno makes two appearences doing monologues about the hysteria that ED TV has created.
ED is the only one who can handle the pressure. The cameras are everywhere. When he wakes up and has a morning woody, the cameras catch it. When he kisses his brother's girlfriend the cameras catch it. When he goes to work, when his father reenters his life, when he does anything, it is filmed. The constant eyeballs creates many problems as the ghosts of Ed's entire family become public knowledge. His brother and mother are caught having affairs, Ed is caught with Brother's girlfriend who tells the whole world that his brother is a horrible lay, Ed's father reenters Ed's life and Ed is once again caught in a major conflict on public tv. The acting isn't contrived or overdone like in the Truman Show. It is sincere, humble and honest.
They thought of everything for this movie. When the show first airs, small local advertisements run across the bottom of the screen like a stock ticker on CNBC. As the show becomes more and more popular, the advertisements become national. When the show becomes a sensation, the advertisements are pinpoint accurate. For instance when Ed is about to have sex, a Trojan advertisement runs along the bottom of the screen. When Ed starts to date a girl, USA Today runs a poll on whether or not the public thinks that Ed should stay with the girl or not. The vote is 70/30 for dump/stay with her. The executives read this as does the girlfriend and they try to find a new girl who will get better ratings. They do a market study and find that the audience responds well to an actress that Ed met while on Jay Leno (Elizabeth Hurley). USA Today even runs a list of possible people for Ed to date. He has become a national icon.
Ed's girlfriend leaves him and the new girl (Liz Hurley) just so happens to enter the picture. The night that Liz Hurley and Ed are going to have sex, the rating surpass the Superbowl. Thousands of people are outside Liz's apartment with signs and banners and cheering like a rock concert. What ensues is one of the funniest scenes of the movie and RuPaul the drag queen delivers the line of the movie. I won't ruin it for those of you who want to see it.
The show continues until everything in Ed's life has gone wrong, because of the show. He tries to get out of it and the executives have secretely made Ed sign a contract for life. He can never escape the cameras. Ed doesn't know what to do and must find a way out. I'm not going to totally ruin the movie and tell the ending as I do think that this movie is so worthy of seeing.
I really do think that this movie is going to be a huge hit. I predict over $130 million at the box office. It really was just perfectly done. There wasn't a question to be asked. They covered everything. They incorporated everything into it that could have been thought of (like the USA Today polls and the Leno monologues and the RuPual comments) even Politically Incorrect focuses on the show as does Michael Moore. It is similar to the OJ trial and the circus that was created out of that. The editing of how it went from Ed, to an actual TV, to the audiences, to the executives who would either jump or cringe depending on what happened.
The script was written by Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz (the same team that brought us City Slickers, Father's Day, Splash, Spies Like Us, Parenthood, and the Flintstones) Although this script won't be nominated for an Academy award due to it's lack of originality (it's too similar to Truman Show), it should be. The script was perfect. It was hilarious and meticulously crafted. Ron Howard was awesome and truly directed a great film and the acting was superb. Mathew McConaghey was great. I really never thought that he could act that well. The supporting cast of Woody Harrelson (back to his funny comedic ways), Liz Hurley (she is so hot), Jenna Elfman (not that great in this movie), Martin Landau (terrific), and Dennis Hopper ( a bit of a waste). Lastly, Ellen DeGeneres was awesome. She can really act. She was funny, emotional and likeable.
Well, I think that's all. Again this film was superb. Really well done. It looks like Universal will have a major hit on their hands and I predict that this will be the fifth highest grossing movie of the summer after StarWars, Wild Wild West, the Matrix, and Austin Powers.
