The Truman Show

(Paramount)

Big Brother is us in Peter Weir's story of Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), a young man who seems to have it all -- a desk job selling insurance, a radiantly smiling Donna Reed-like wife, Meryl (Laura Linney), and a toy-like, white-picket-fenced home -- until he discovers that his entire 30-year existence has been a TV show broadcast 24 hours a day and watched by billions. Ultimately, it's Carrey who grounds the film, drawing on his antic id as the artifice of his world unravels.