The Majestic
 
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The Majestic (2001)

Jim Carrey , Martin Landau , Frank Darabont  |  Unrated |  DVD
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (169 customer reviews)


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Product Details

  • Actors: Jim Carrey, Martin Landau, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey DeMunn, Hal Holbrook
  • Directors: Frank Darabont
  • Writers: Michael Sloane
  • Producers: Frank Darabont, Anna Garduno, Claudia Cummings, Jim Behnke, Linda Fields
  • Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
  • Language: English, French
  • Subtitles: English, French
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: Unrated
  • Studio: Warner Home Video
  • DVD Release Date: June 18, 2002
  • Run Time: 152 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (169 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005JKNC
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,309 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Learn more about "The Majestic" on IMDb

Special Features

  • Movie Within the Movie: Sand Pirates of the Sahara - The Complete Sequence
  • Additional Scenes

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

A fiasco from the director Frank Darabont. Jim Carrey plays a hack screenwriter who, in the early fifties, runs into trouble with the House Un-American Activities Committee. Out for a drive, he gets bonked on the head, suffers from amnesia, and winds up in a small town on the California coast where he's taken for a missing war hero. Since we know he's not a war hero, we feel only chagrin and impatience as he's lionized by the town. The movie appears to be a square version of what Preston Sturges pulled off as hilarious satire in "Hail the Conquering Hero," in 1944. Darabont paces the inert material more slowly than the funeral of Edward VII, and Carrey, unable to use his lank, big body, gives a dull performance. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Product Description

Investigated as a Communist by the U.S. government and blacklisted by the studio he was working for, B-movie screenwriter Peter Appleton (Jim Carrey) secretly yearns for a new life. His wish is fulfilled when a freak accident gives him amnesia and lands him in a small coastal California town that's suffering from post-WW II depression, having lost 62 young men in the war. The Majestic is producer/director Frank Darabont's first major feature not based on a Stephen King story, yet it still captures much of the same mysticism and magic of his previous films, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. There's nothing special about the amnesia angle, but it ends up merely being a catalyst for a broader examination of how fragile and fallible memory can be. Carrey is quite good as the charming, but spineless writer who, inspired by those who lost so many friends and family members in the war, eventually stands up for himself. Martin Landau is terrific as theatre owner Harry Trimble and the rest of Carrey's supporting cast is solid. The half hour spent establishing Appleton's amnesia is a little less than subtle ("Are you sure you don't remember anything?") and could have easily been trimmed to get The Majestic under a more reasonable two hours, but this is otherwise a very enjoyable film that was overlooked when it was first released at Christmas 2001. --Adem Tepedelen

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 46 people found the following review helpful
A Delightful Film ! June 23, 2002
Format:DVD
Jim Carrey did a wonderful job in this movie, playing Luke, an amnesiac who is not really who people think he is. Like his character in "The Truman Show", this was not a comedic role and shows his versatility as an actor. In the beginning of the movie, he is Peter, a rather sketchy Hollywood screenwriter. As Luke, he assumes an very different persona.

The slow pace and the length of this film permit full character development. Viewers really get to know the characters and to care about them and their lives. Especially wonderful in her role was Laurie Holden, an actress who was new to me but who did a magnificent job in the role of Carrey's girlfriend. Her down-to-earth performance was right on target.

The Majestic, a run-down movie theater, becomes the rallying point for the townspeople - a symbol of the re-birth of a young man who has returned from the dead and the regeneration of a town which lost over 60 young men in the war. The entire town embraces Luke and rallies behind he and his father as they attempt to resuscitate the defunct theater.

This ode to America and its freedoms came as a welcome change. It was a delightful, easy-to-watch, nostalgic movie with a feel-good message, showing patriotic, small-town values. What could be wrong with that?

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Jim Carey at his best March 7, 2008
Format:DVD
We've always loved the Majestic, but it's especially poignant watching it now, as America is at war. The small town that rescues Jim Carey's character is what we all want; the sincere sharing of joys and sorrows with others that have been where we've been.

I don't know why The Majestic ended up being a relative sleeper. (For that matter, I don't know why Saving Grace, Pure Luck, and other brilliant movies with brilliant acting ended up that way, either.) Except for in the Majestic, the lead was played by a man who everyone expects to see playing someone wacky or stupid, no exceptions. It's a shame. Carey was brilliant in this thought-provoking, heart-warming film.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
McCarthy Age Love Story January 23, 2008
Format:DVD
I LOVE this movie. Some of my friends don't and I don't have a clue why. It's a serious role for Jim Carey, something you don't often see. There are also some other faces you will recognize, like Martin Landau (Space 1999) and the town doctor (one of the Major Franks from Mash).

Jim Carey is a Hollywood Writer who is named as having possible Communist ties in the McCarthy witchhunt for communists period in our history. (If you were named as a possible Communist, you were blackballed until your name was cleared--guilty before proven innocent. By the way, you cleared yourself by being investigated and naming someone else.)

Jim gets disgusted when, after being accused, the plug on his film project is pulled and he takes off for a drive. He has an accident, loses his memory, and wakes up on the beach in a small town where he is recognized as Martin Landau's son Luke, who went off to war and has been gone for many years.

It's a great flick about a town who gave up more than it's share of young men to fight in the war and many never returned. The whole town celebrates Luke's return as he rekindles his former love relationship with his girl and fond remeberances with the town's people, in the backlight are the McCarthy trials and how they infringe on the rights of the people.

Like I said, great story line. You fall in love with the whole town as it enfolds.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Wonderful Nostalgia !
Being the Romantic Idealist that I am...I couldn't help but love this film...for it's sweet romance...and memories of small town America in the early 1950's... Read more
Published 10 days ago by R. Stane
Received Quickly
The product arrived from the seller quickly and in visibly good shape. Unfortunately, the first time I watched it, part of the movie froze-up and would not play. Read more
Published 5 months ago by D. Allen
Capra-ish and entertaining.
This film is directed in the Frank Capra style. It is too long and probably would've rated 5 stars with some editing, but Frank Capra wouldn't have cut it short either. Read more
Published 5 months ago by R. Pandolfo
ENJOYABLE SENTIMENTAL FILM, BUT.....
I liked this sentimental film. I would commend it to all who feel that they can do with a bit of soft-hearted, love the people and they will love you, movie-making. Read more
Published 5 months ago by drkhimxz
Wow! What a great movie!
Wow! I enjoyed this movie SO much! Jim Carey was great in this role. This is the first movie in a long time that I have actually wanted to tell people about. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Barbara B. Campbell
The Majestic is Magic
Words can't do it justice. Negative remarks made by critics are just that (negative). It may sound like a cliché, but ... SEE THIS FILM!! Read more
Published 8 months ago by Roark Dority
Remembrance of Things Past
This film, by the same director who produced "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile", is one that I don't expect will be truly understood by the average viewer in this day... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Michael Ziegler
Movie
If your looking for a great movie to watch this is it.
Jim Carrey played an excellent part.
Yes, it is an old movie,somehow we missed this one. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Pattea
A Decent Period Piece
In this film, Jim Carrey makes his transition from rubber-faced funnyman to straight-laced dramatic. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Zachary Koenig
Watch me while I pull a rabbit out of this hat!
Disgusting trash!

Women should be very upset about the female love interest's portrayal as a shallow floozy with a fetish for people who resemble her dead hero... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Automated Message
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