A Review by Adam Godfrey EdTV Starring: Matthew McConaughay, Jenna Elfman, Elizabeth Hurley, Woody Harrelson, Ellen Degeneres, Rob Reiner, Martin Landau Directed by Ron Howard Grade: C-
At times, you'd think EdTV would be an entertaining film. I mean, who can resist the story of your average Joe becomming a celebrity by having his life filmed every minute of every day? But this average Joe, Ed Perkuny, (Matthew McConaughay), is a sappy, lifeless creation that wanders around, trying to solve everyone's problems and settle his own. McConaughay is awful, especially because he is trying to pull off his usual Hollywood charm with a 3 week beard and torn jeans. Frankly, he had more charm in the devestating flop The Newton Boys. He overacts in every way: his overexaggerant body language, obsession with kissing women every second he gets the chance, and that cliched scene where he loses someone in his life, and drops to his knee and cries. The rest of the cast is very good; especially Martin Landau (as Ed's step-father), who plays a cute role as the close-to-death old guy that makes all the witty comments. Jenna Elfman is good, (but a little overemotional); her main problem is that she keeps getting sucked into bad films, i.e. Can't Hardly Wait, and Krippendorf's Tribe. Woody Harrelson, as Ed's brother Ray, does his usual egg-headed role, with his comic wit as well (he wrote a book entitled, "My Brother Pissed on Me.") Elizabeth Hurley is perfectly cast as the easy slut, and Dennis Hopper, in a quick cameo as Ed's biological father, is a nice choice (ironically coming after the role he turned down as Christof in The Truman Show). Ellen Degeneres stood out as the executive who, after awhile, decides the show must not go on much to the opposite of the head exec, Rob Reiner's opinion. I hate to compare this film to The Truman Show, but the fact is, I was ashamed to see this movie. It felt that I had dropped from College to Kindergarten after seeing Truman and Ed. EdTV had no real wit or genius; it was typical Hollywood. Extracting the TV part of the movie, you have the simple plotline: Man steals brother's girlfriend, girlfriend leaves town, man gets new slut girlfriend to feel like he can move on, slut breaks up with him, real girlfriend comes back, and voila, you have a romance. I got so restless during this movie, I almost walked out. The only reason it doesn't drop below a "C" grade is because of the fine supporting performances. Grade: C- Ad2am "I almost lost my nose...and I like it. I like breathing through it." -Jack Nicholson, Chinatown
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