The other night I watched EdTV--it was on a digital cable channel (and let me tell you, folks, it's a movie buff's delight).
While EdTV suffers in comparison to The Truman Show, it is not a bad little conceit. Lightweight, sure, but it follows through on the premise and keeps the tone reasonably consistent throughout.
It'd be nice if the premise were less believable, but I can pretty much buy that most people would happily become voyeurs in the life of an unambitious slacker with a white trash family and elevate them all to celebrity status, with all the requisite problems this entails.
The performances make the movie; the screenplay is pretty average pap. McConnaughey ambles through the movie with exactly the right nonchalance any self-respecting underachiever would adopt--but with an emotional depth at times that is somehow equally apt. Harrelson's part is almost completely unnecessary, but a lot of fun to watch--and it doesn't hurt that he and McConnaughey really could pass as brothers. Jenna Elfman, as the goofy girlfriend, doesn't disgrace herself (an important accomplishment for a TV star). Sally Kirkland is pretty much wasted, but Martin Landau has one of his best roles in years as the wheelchair bound stepfather with a fragile body and indestructible wit.
The scenes involving the low-rent family are the best in the film; it's too bad the studio storyline couldn't match this standard. Ellen DeGeneres and Rob Reiner do as well as they could, given the material. The best studio-side performance is by Clint Howard, in what I believe is the biggest part he's ever had in one of his brother's films.
There is Elizabeth Hurley, for those of you who think that's important.
And a cat. Look for the cat. Great scene. It would have been better if the cat died, but you can't have everything.
