EDtv Reviews

It's not THE TRUMAN SHOW all over again, but it also doesn't break new ground. What can anyone say about the pursuit of fame for fame's sake that contemporary events haven't already made all too clear to us? A producer (Ellen DeGeneres) for struggling cable channel True TV comes up with a brilliant ratings booster: Pluck some boob from obscurity and train multiple cameras on him all the time. True TV's new star: Underachiever Ed (Matthew McConaughey), who spends his time at the local pool hall with his obnoxious brother, Ray (Woody Harrelson), drinking domestic beer and acting like they're from their native East Texas, not San Francisco. Though Ed excels at every-man navel gazing, the show takes off when he unwittingly exposes Ray's philandering, which gives him a crack at Ray's girl Shari (Jenna Elfman). Within a month, Ed's celebrity has grown to unmanageable proportions. His absentee dad (Dennis Hopper) reappears, only to cause emotional havoc. His mom's (Sally Kirkland) marriage to frail but wisecracking Al (Martin Landau) is a casualty of the media scrutiny. Shari books it after viewers decide she's not good enough for Ed. Director Ron Howard relies on the same Greek chorus device Peter Weir used in THE TRUMAN SHOW: "regular" folks -- a stereotypical NY gay couple, girls in a college dorm, peevish line cooks, a Connecticut buppie couple -- addicted to the spectacle of watching Ed 24/7. As played by McConaughey, his charm firmly on cruise control, Ed is decked out in slacker gear, drives a nifty gas-guzzler, owns umpteen vintage jackets and sports a bad haircut. But he's got heart, and when the pernicious effects of fame take their toll on his family, he maneuvers an all too facile way out of the fame game. Like its star, Howard's movie is affable, but has limited range.