Edtv (1999)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Memorable, crazy movie

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Matthew McConaughey stars as Ed, a young ordinary single guy. When a television network decides to make a reality show to follow a man's life, Ed gets chosen for the show.Ed likes the idea but his family and friends disagree with him. As time goes by he slowly realizes how much this show effects his life. He has met the girl of his dreams and their relationship gets complicated because of all the cameras and people following him around.This movie was OK and fun to watch, it might have been a very good movie at the time it was released because people were really hyped on the new phenomenon called 'reality TV', a term that has grown mainstream to this day.

This film appears to be an experiment by Ron Howard to try & prove he can control a lot of stars in a complex film situation and yet bring off an entertaining film. He almost succeeds, but not quite. The trouble is he dark comedy & subtle comedy doesn't appeal to a wide enough audience. It does come close in spots but in the end scores a near miss.Jenna Elfman is her most restrained as I have seen her in this movie. Martin Landau is good in a rare performance by him in recent years. Ed is the man chosen by a network programmer to have his life story on TV 24-7. This is not an easy thing as it complicates Ed's life and everyone he runs into. Then when the show becomes extremely effective, and a hit, Ed gets trapped doing things he doesn't want to do.Overall everything here is pretty much OK, but that is the problem, it doesn't rise enough above OK to engage the viewer beyond amusement into belly laughs. It really appears the cast & crew have more fun making this film than the viewer has. It is a shame as it is a noble effort.

I might have given this movie a 3 instead of a 2 if it didn't have an agenda besides being pretty friggin' bad. Flush this one, WOW !! what a waste of time and money. I just can't say enough bad things about this movie. The only real question left is how did they get so much good talent to sign on to this loser ? The story line is just bankrupt of any mature thought. There is no moral. A movie this bad should at least have a message. I am sorry, I must have missed it. I believe some people have been living in the plastic universe of Southern Cal too long. I would be ashamed if I put the money up for this stinker. I may reconsider and drop this to a 1.

When EDTV was released in 1999 we didn't have much in the way of reality television , attempts had been tried like THE LIVING SOAP from the mid 1990s which did not catch on and it wasn't until the Dutch produced BIG BROTHER in 1999 that the reality show exploded and since then we've had too many of these type of programmes and hopefully the latest one from Channel 4 that has flopped - SPACE CADETS - will be the final nail in the coffin for this wasted and painfully over used format The main interest in watching EDTV in 2005 is wondering how accurate and prophetic it might have been with hindsight . Did they get it right ? In my humble opinion - No . And if it's trying to be a satire I found it lacking , I mean there's not enough biting cynicism involved ( Though with Ron Howard as director what do you expect ? ) , maybe the producers should have viewed WAG THE DOG to see how it's done Perhaps I should ask how many people praising this film have seen the classic teleplay - No make that " Yet another classic teleplay " - from Nigel Kneale THE YEAR OF THE SEXUAL OLYMPICS where a TV audience watch a TV reality show where contestants are being murdered , a sort of BIG BROTHER mixed in with Agatha Christie . It's when you compare these two that you find this box office friendly Hollywood offering is rather lacking