why does everyone hate this movie??
-
ecjones1951 — 19 years ago(August 29, 2006 06:49 PM)
I saw this movie for the first time in August, 2006. I recalled reading about it in a Winter Movie Preview in
Entertainment Weekly
in the summer of 2001, and at the time it was getting good buzz. It was Warner Brothers' big release for the upcoming Christmas season.
I have no strong feeling toward Jim Carrey one way or another, but I do like Frank Capra movies and most movies set in earlier time periods. This one had a good cast, and I love old movie theaters. I knew that restoring one, The Majestic, was the centerpiece of the movie.
What really angered me about this movie is that it steals relentlessly from other movies and other sources and relies on the audience's ignorance to get its points across. There is not a single legitimate, sincere emotion in the entire film. It's completely disengenuous. This is an insult to the audience. Please, please don't tell me "it's only a movie," or "it's a feel-good movie." All filmmakers, including those with the clout of Frank Darabont, should have more respect for their audience. Even a "feel-good" movie needs to play fair.
We weren't all born yesterday. Many people in the audience would surely have known as I did that the letter from Luke, read by Matt Damon in voiceover, is almost a word-for-word steal from a very real and very famous letter written by a Union soldier in the Civil War. (That is noted on the trivia page for
The Majestic
.)
Yes,
The Majestic
is beautiful to look at. Some fine actors (Martin Landau, Jeffrey DeMunn, etc.) are given very little to do with their talent. Carrey is fine, but could have been even better had his role(s) not been so underwritten. This could have been a classic if it had decided what it wanted to be winsome romantic fantasy or political drama. Frank Capra could often combine the two, and like his best films, this one tries to do both. Sadly, it succeeds at neither.
Ultimately, I think the fact that the movie was released three months after 9/11 hurt it rather than helped it. People had seen enough real heroes to be impressed by a fictional one, even if he was echoing popular sentiments about the meaning of patriotism and what it means to be an American. -
Rain_Falls_Gently — 19 years ago(September 01, 2006 08:35 PM)
I loved the movie. The only thing that could've been better were the special effects or green screen. Whatever they used for the background scenes, obviously digital, and a bit unrealistic, but were beautiful in my opinion.
Jim did a great performance when he went "on trial" or whatever. Really admired him for that one. -
dgates64 — 19 years ago(February 18, 2007 07:27 AM)
With a 6.6 average rating, it's hardly 'hated' by all. I gave it an 8, only because 7.5 wasn't an option.
The ending doesn't sit well. The whole town meeting him at the train station just felt really hokey. I think if he was accepted back in town more gradually, it would've come across better. Like he meets Adele, she accepts him back, and then the townspeople gradually show up at the theater to greet him and watch the movie.
On another subject, it probably had the worst movie poster I've seen in a while. -
Errington_92 — 11 years ago(June 27, 2014 11:43 AM)
The Majestic
fell into various cliches or simply corny moments for it to be a good film. It was a mixture between light-hearted and overly dramatic scenes, if
The Majestic
had chosen to be more serious then its ultimate theme would have been conveyed better.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not". -
BenAtlanta — 9 years ago(January 27, 2017 09:50 PM)
Because it makes no sense from the beginning. I would have gladly gone along with the idea that the whole town PRETENDS he is Luke the dead son just to make Martin Landau happy and keep him alive. But the idea that they all, like sheep, just accept it? Even the girl who had her first kiss with him (I have a feeling the role was written much more cynically but the actress didn't pull that part off).
It's really awful, guys. No way around it. -
AnthonySocksss — 10 months ago(June 01, 2025 08:21 AM)
This is one of the worst movies ever made
Melton1 Wanted for Pedophilia:
https://i.ibb.co/6cnPmJVr/IMG-0830.jpg
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Zjxk307CND0
