One of the most ambitious films of the aughts, and one of the biggest bombs. To be sure, THE MAJESTIC (2001), by producer/director Frank Darabont, is uneven and self-indulgent, but it’s also quite endearing. I’d even go so far as to say it holds up better than Darabont’s previous, and much better received, films THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994) and THE GREEN MILE (1999).
THE MAJESTIC’s budget was an exorbitant-by-2001 standards $72 million, and its failure is often cited as a major factor in the 2002 dissolution of Castle Rock Entertainment. The film was nonetheless quite impactful on the LA entrepreneur Robert Bucksbaum, who in 2003 purchased the historic Crest movie theater in Westwood, CA, renamed it the Majestic Crest and kept it in business until 2010.
Bucksbaum’s inspiration came from THE MAJESTIC’s main plot point, concerning the refurbishment of an old movie theater. It’s also a fish-out-of-water comedy, a nostalgic period piece and a message movie, with the framework of an old school Hollywood epic. The film is, in short, unique and multi-faceted, which functions in its favor; many of its components don’t work, but are offset by those that do.
Jim Carrey, who in 2001 was trying to establish himself as a non-comedic leading man, plays Peter Appleton, a screenwriter working in 1951 Hollywood (with his offscreen superiors voiced, in a cutesy touch, by actual directors: Carl and Rob Reiner, Garry Marshall, Paul Mazursky and Sydney Pollack). The blacklist is in full swing and Peter has been incorrectly named a communist sympathizer. He decides to escape his troubles by taking an epic road trip up the California coast, but drives his car off a bridge. His unconscious form washes up in on the beach of a sleepy coastal town, where he comes to with amnesia.
Peter closely resembles Luke Trimble (whose “real” self, heard but never seen, is voiced by Matt Damon), one of several MIA townsmen shipped off to fight in WWII. The townspeople, including Luke’s father Harry (Martin Landau) and his girlfriend Adele (Laurie Holden), believe Peter is the returning Luke, and he has no reason to dissuade them.
His major point of interest becomes the fixing up of the Majestic, a run-down movie theater owned by Harry. In so doing Peter revives the townspeople’s sagging spirits, becomes a better person than he was before and grows quite close with Adele…until, upon catching a scene from a movie he scripted (whose hero is played by Bruce Campbell), his memory returns.
There’s also the fact that G-men have been searching the California coast for Peter’s whereabouts, and eventually succeed in tracking him down. He’s obliged to head back to LA for a congressional committee meeting, and a confrontation with his old and new selves.
Darabont directs this highly expansive account in his usual stately, bloat-happy manner, drawing out every scene to its utmost and shamelessly accentuating the schmaltzy and sentimental elements. It’s an approach that was directly at odds with standard early aughts filmmaking (which was more in tune with the music video sensibilities of Michael Bay) and grows increasingly compelling as the film advances—meaning the inflated 2½ hour run time actually works in its favor.
That’s a good thing, because there’s a great deal that doesn’t work. The script’s multiple themes fail to harmonize, with the movie theater renovation plot proving quite winning but the political business falling flat. The congressional meeting portions were evidently inspired by those of an earlier film, the Irwin Winkler directed GUILTY BY SUSPICION (1990), which like THE MAJESTIC featured a falsely accused protagonist who angrily lectures his interrogators (here rendered in cartoonishly evil fashion by Bob Balaban and Hal Holbrook) about the importance of free speech. The romantic angle is likewise a nonstarter, which points up another major shortcoming.
Jim Carrey is, frankly, miscast. Watchable and engaging he always is, but Carrey’s rendering of a James Stewart-like everyman is hopelessly uninteresting. As his love interest Laurie Holden (who became Darabont’s muse, playing the female leads in THE MIST and the Darabont created WALKING DEAD series) is equally bland, meaning she and Carrey at least make a good pairing. Faring much better are Martin Landau (1928-2017) as Harry and Gerry Black (1927-2017) as Peter’s cohort Emmett, a.k.a. Token Black Guy, an unpromising role that as interpreted by Black proves unexpectedly moving.
Vital Statistics
THE MAJESTIC
Castle Rock Entertainment/Village Roadshow Pictures/Warner Bros.
Director/Producer: Frank Darabont
Screenplay: Michael Sloane
Cinematography: David Tattersall
Editing: Jim Page
Cast: Jim Carrey, Martin Landau, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey DeMunn, Hal Holbrook, Laurie Holden, Brent Briscoe, Ron Rifkin, Gerry Black, David Ogden Stiers, James Whitmore, Susan Willis, Catherine Dent, Brian Howe, Karl Bury, Chelcie Ross, Amanda Detmer, Allen Garfield, Garry Marshall, Paul Mazursky, Sydney Pollack, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Matt Damon, Bruce Campbell