The Majestic - PG\nStarring: Jim Carrey, Martin Landau\nDirected by: Frank Darabont\nShowing: Showplace West 12\nTo promote post-Sept. 11 patriotism, movie theaters are showing a short film before "The Majestic" filled with clips from old movies about American idealism and courage. This little film is definitely schmaltzy, but at the same time the intent behind it is so genuine that a viewer can't help but get shivery and teary.\nThe makers of "The Majestic" also attempt to create emotion from the more innoncent times reflected in old Hollywood movies. Unfortunately, director Frank Darabont and star Jim Carrey are so sure they have achieved this goal that their egomania turns "The Majestic" into a product that produces shivers of disgust.\nSet in the mid-1950s, the movie tells the story of Peter Appleton (Carrey), a smarmy B-movie screenwriter who faces being blacklisted by the American government after he is falsely accused of being a communist. Attempting to escape from his destroyed career, Appleton takes an inebriated drive, hits his head and ends up an amnesiac washed up on the beaches of Lawson, Calif. The townspeople of Lawson think Appleton is Luke Trimble, the town hero who went MIA in World War II. Appleton eventually embraces his new identity as Trimble, helping his father (Martin Landau) re-open the run-down Majestic movie theater and romancing Trimble's childhood sweetheart (Laurie Holden, playing a role you just know Charlize Theron turned down).\nAlthough the sets and costumes look great and the references to movies of the era are fun, the movie is so cloyingly sweet that it could induce several cavities. The only bright spots acting-wise come from voice cameos by several Hollywood directors and by actor Matt Damon as the voice of the real Luke Trimble (although the thought of a guy with Carrey's body and Damon's voice is really kind of scary).\nIn the trailers for the film, Jim Carrey says "The Majestic" came out of his wish to "put something good-hearted into the world." That's great Jim, but if this movie is your idea of good-hearted you should have kept that wish to yourself.\n
