Edtv (1999)

This movie features one of my favourite Matthew McConaughey performances. And is a movie I think is horribly under rated. It's a movie I can watch at any time, good mood or bad, feeling well or feeling sick, winter, spring, summer or autumn. This movie always holds my attention.

Plot In A Paragraph: Television Network, Reality TV, decides to have a show where they show the life of an ordinary guy, 24 hours a day And the ordinary guy they choose is Ed Pekurney (Matthew McConaughey) despite the fact that he didn't film an audition, but appeared on his brother Ray's (Woody Harrelson) audition tape. At first, everything is OK, but soon the presence of the cameras, and ensuing celebrity status cause problems and all sorts of family secrets are revealed to the world.

Directed by Ron Howard, filled with great performances, and contains a great score by Randy Edalman and a great song by Bon Jovi "EdTv" was unfortunate to come out a year after Jim Carrey's "Truman Show" which all though also dealt with one man being on TV 24 hours a day, is a totally different concept, as the main star on "The Truman Show" didn't know he was on TV, and didn't know everyone in his life was an actor, in "EdTv" Matthew McConaughey willingly signs up for the show. Sadly it was considered an imitation movie and suffered in comparison at the Box Office.

The full cast give great performances McConaughey and Harrelson are always reliable but Jenna Elfman and Ellen DeGeneres more than hold their own. Rob Reiner and Dennis Hopper are both fun and Elizabeth Hurley (Who I have never been a fan of) is perfectly cast as the fame hungry Jill.

However, for this reviewer it is Martin Landau as Ed's stepdad who steals the show, He is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Anybody who wants to get into the reality TV world, which is 100% more popular now, than it is was when this movie was made. Needs to watch this show as a warning about the double edged sword of fame/celebrity and reality TV.

Fmovies: Edtv is a great movie that proves that life on the cameras can be very annoying after a long period of time. Ed is a normal guy who thinks that fame could prove to his advantage when slowly and surely, he realizes that fame has bad after effects after the family and the loved ones are bothered by cameras in the face as well. Jenna Elfman, who played the hippie wife in dharma and greg, didnt really fit in the movie in my opinion. perhaps another leading lady, like renee zilweger or leelee sobelki would have done a better performance. this movie is on sometimes on tbs, and they usually do several repeats over and over again, so if you have the opportunity to watch cable, then watch edtv.

EDTV is more concerned with "Ed" than "TV".

In fact, throughout this dull and relentless tale of ordinary Joe Ed turned real-life 24-hour television star, Director Ron Howard consistently resists the obvious satire on the fallout of fame and focuses on the cloyingly saccharine romance that lies at EDTV's mushy core.

If you doubt this (and considering Howard's track record, you may), visit EDTV on DVD and you'll be treated to numerous deleted scenes that satirically drive home the point that fame is indeed a bitch. Unfortunately, these scenes are also some of the darkest, funniest and most telling in the script. (An entire subplot about an EdTV imitator that ends with tragedy was completely eliminated from the final cut.) Why then did they end up on the cutting room floor? Howard can't seem to get away from Mayberry sentimentality enough to make EDTV the film it needs to be by it's very nature. In fact, the stars of the film (Hurley, DeGeneres, Harrelson) could have made a more interesting documentary on the price of fame than EDTV does at it's cautious best.

All hail, however, the film's bright spot, Ellen DeGeneres. Yes, Ellen. With her balance of quirky humor and self-doubting charm, she manages to infuse the film with some sense of purpose and it is she (not wrongly cast lead Matthew McConaughey) that we care about.

See it for Ellen. Or, better yet, rent THE TRUMAN SHOW and cap it off with a re-run of TV's ELLEN. I guarantee more laughs and heaps more satire than the botched EDTV can ever provide.

Edtv fmovies. EDtv will inevitably be compared to Peter Weir's The Truman Show but really they haven't much in common. The Truman Show took itself far too seriously. EDtv is a fairly black comedy, a satire on modern TV culture.

The producers of a failing TV network decide to take a punt and try a new format - a real TV doco on an ordinary life.

They audition and choose Ed (Mathew McConaghey), a rangy, slobbish video store worker who's been once or twice bitten in love; the sort of fellow who goes out with a beer mug tied around his neck.

Ed takes on the challenge partly because he's pretty broke and partly because he's bored, urged on by his little hoper, small brained, big muscled brother Ray played by Woody Harrelson. A few days into the shoot Ray throws over his girlfriend Shari (Jenna Elfman) and Ed wins her as his new lover. Ratings soar!

The talent of the cast (not to mention it's director Ron Howard) lends a great deal of life to Edtv. It's often genuinely funny. McConaughey uses that winning smile to perfection, even as he has an early morning, half asleep fiddle with his genitals. McConaughey is a major reason why EDtv works as well as it does.

Woody Harrelson is a genuinely talented actor and can play a spoilt, selfish meat headed brother perfectly. Some of the best lines have been left to Al the boy's father played by Martin Landau as well as to Ellen DeGeneres as the show's producer.

But it's the character of Ed and his family who really set the neurones firing. Unlike many American films these heroes are ordinary middle Americans, probably about as close as a mainstream American film could get to an English, Ken Loach/Mike Leach, style of middle/working class family. There aren't any chandeliers in Edtv.

It's not often that these sorts of characters are treated warmly in these sorts of films and then we must ask how our own families would fare under this sort of warts and all scrutiny- probably about as well as Ed's.

And it's also interesting to wonder how much the average Aussie would consider EDtv to be a satire given the popularity of Rikki Lake and her ilk, not to mention the Funniest Home Video types of programs. Is real life TV (is there such a thing) already even more outrageous than EDtv? Is EDtv outrageous enough to be satire?

There are some dull minutes in EDtv (mostly to do with Elizabeth Hurley's appearance as a sex pot) but EDtv proves again that Hollywood isn't nearly as dumb as it makes out to be.

people who keep saying this is just like the truman show are stupid. it's completely different, and it didn't rip of anybody. both movies were probably being made at the same time. Truman Show has barely any similarities to EdTV. EDTV is a romantic comedy, light satire, and truman show is a drama. EdTV didn't get what it deserved at the box office and i respect howard whose direction is excellent, for releasing this movie when he did. Harrelson and Landau are hilarious and this is probably matthew's best performance i've seen of him. he really does a great job. jenna elfman too. Very funny, entertaining movie, and a great DVD. I laugh so hard when the camera man falls in the outtakes section of the bonus materials.

EdTv is a comedy, but also a very serious movie: if you notice our reality in the present days, full of cameras watching us everywhere we go, and even the reality show programs, you will notice that the main thing in the movie is not only to entertain, but maybe also to alert people about the dangerous problems of all this stuff. Ed Pekurny is a regular guy who suddenly gets invited to be part of a reality show. He accepts,specially because he wants the money that the TV executives are going to pay him. Gradually, what starts being funny and even a nice way of popularity becomes a nightmare,with Ed not having any privacy at all,specially with his girlfriend Shari.

I found the end of this movie very cool. Go watch it :)