# Edtv (1999)

### reviewed by
John Carroll

    EDtv
    Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Sally Kirkland, Woody Harrelson,
    Martin Landau, Ellen DeGeneres, Rob Reiner and Elizabeth Hurley
    Directed By: Ron Howard
    Rated: PG-13
    Length: 122 Minutes

EDtv is a comic look at the premise of The Truman Show. Unfortunately, Ron Howard forgets the point of a comedy is to be clever and funny.

When I first heard about Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, it sounded like a great basis for a comedy. After the hilarious Liar Liar, The Truman Show looked like a great follow-up. Well, after I looked into it, I found out it was a drama. Granted, it was wonderful, but I always thought it could have been just as good as a comedy. Enter Ron Howard and EDtv. It is not exactly like The Truman Show. The star is a man by the name of Ed Pekurny, plyed by Matthew McConaughey. Unlike The Truman Show, Ed knows that the camera is following him around. Now, this is SUPPOSED to be a comedy. Unfortunately, it is a snooze that I could have saved my $7.50 on. EDtv had great potential. I went in with a clear mind and determined myself not to compare it to The Truman Show...And I still hated it. I wanted to laugh, I really did. I sat through all two hours thinking: "This has to be funny. How could they screw such a great idea up?" But, they did. Even when the wacky Cliff Howard makes his cameo appearance, I could not even muster a chuckle. That is how bad EDtv is. This film is star-packed. I have to give it that. You would think that such a great cast would be able to at least bring some depth to the film, but alas, it did not. If anything, it made the film even worse. You wonder how such stars could rope themselves into such a horrendous film. Jenna Elfman and Woody Harrelson approach respectability, but it is not enough. This film is just plain bad. Matt McConaughey plays Ed, the star of the movie and of the show. The camera follows him around his life as he does his routine. It is pretty bad at first. Ed turns out to be some stupid, average joe. Then his brother, played by Woody Harrelson, gets on screen and things are supposed to light up. Well, they don't. It plods along as Ed meets Shari (Jenna Elfman) and they hit it off and Ray (Woody Harrelson) gets mad. It goes along slowly...Very slowly as the relationship between Shari and Ed progresses, and then Jill enters Ed's point of view. Still boring. The only good jokes in this film is the USA Today Poll about Shari and Ed, plus the joke about nudity on the internet. It stops right there. To top things off, Ron Howard tries to add drama to this film. One thing you never attempt to do, Ron, is put drama in a terrible comedy. It is hard enough to do in a regular comedy, let alone a horrendous one such as EDtv. Whether it be Ed and his grandfather or Jenna and Ed in their romance, which seems like slow motion, it all just seems to put EDtv further and further down. I see EDtv as a funeral. They had a good idea, but just kept shoveling more and more dirt on it and taking away the glimmer. Overall, EDtv is just plain BAD. The idea was great, but the execution was horrible. EDtv should be a lesson to all motion picture executives: If you have a great idea and an all-star cast, do it right! But, EDtv does not, unfortunately, and we have to suffer for it. Maybe someone will do it right...Someday. One Star our of Four Stars

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