This movie had the misfortune of coming out shortly after The Truman Show, a very different movie based on the same premise. The Truman Show took a fantasy approach, with lots of features that required suspension of disbelief: the completeness of the simulated world, Truman's questioning of a world that was self-consistent to him even where it was wrong to us, long-term co-stars who didn't feel guilty about deceiving him, etc. This movie took the realistic approach of someone fully aware of his situation, and trapped not by walls and deception, but a sucker's contract. They share the questionable idea that constant surveillance of someone's life can hold an audience, but make that believable by making the stars' lives interesting.
The fact that it's more realistic than The Truman Show doesn't make it a better movie, but it's still very good. The people signing up for the show are thrilled by the idea of exploiting the good aspects of fame, but also skeptical right from the start. Still, they're either too eager to sign up or not clever enough to read all the fine print, and jump into a contract that exploits the power imbalance between ordinary people and a big business (even though the network had been struggling, it was still a big business).
It's just right the way the executive who demeans Ellen Degeneres for her questionable idea, and gives her total credit for it, later tries to steal the credit for the show when it's a hit. Predictable, but only because we all know people who behave like that.
A particularly clever detail is the way the continuous ads at the bottom of the show's screen progress from cheap-looking text ads for small businesses to spiffy graphic ads for national businesses, as the show's ratings rise.
It's foreshadowed from the start -- the skepticism about the contract -- that Ed will eventually regret signing up for the show. But when the burden of fame gets to him, we don't have any idea how he can escape, and it seems he doesn't either. What does he do? That would be a spoiler.
The fact that it's more realistic than The Truman Show doesn't make it a better movie, but it's still very good. The people signing up for the show are thrilled by the idea of exploiting the good aspects of fame, but also skeptical right from the start. Still, they're either too eager to sign up or not clever enough to read all the fine print, and jump into a contract that exploits the power imbalance between ordinary people and a big business (even though the network had been struggling, it was still a big business).
It's just right the way the executive who demeans Ellen Degeneres for her questionable idea, and gives her total credit for it, later tries to steal the credit for the show when it's a hit. Predictable, but only because we all know people who behave like that.
A particularly clever detail is the way the continuous ads at the bottom of the show's screen progress from cheap-looking text ads for small businesses to spiffy graphic ads for national businesses, as the show's ratings rise.
It's foreshadowed from the start -- the skepticism about the contract -- that Ed will eventually regret signing up for the show. But when the burden of fame gets to him, we don't have any idea how he can escape, and it seems he doesn't either. What does he do? That would be a spoiler.