![]() I myself am guilty of discussing "Truman's" plot on a "Siskel & Ebert" special that aired a couple of weeks before the opening, and again during our review of the film. If " The Crying Game" came out today, it would open with the full monty. Since movies live or die by their opening weekend grosses, there's no angle in waiting for audiences to discover the secrets for themselves. And Denise Leder of Las Vegas writes, "I would estimate that my viewing enjoyment was cut by 87.6% just because I knew what was going on." Alas, almost all the Hollywood studios believe the best way to advertise a movie is to reveal as much of it as possible in the ads and trailers. My wife contends there is no other possible way for the studio to successfully advertise the movie, but I have to believe there's SOME way to do it. Now here's "The Truman Show," with a marketing campaign spilling all the beans. At that moment, I thought-I shouldn't have known the details beforehand! The same thing happened with " The Empire Strikes Back." Magazines had cover photos: "Here's Yoda! He's an old, eccentric, funny-looking creature who's really a Jedi master!" In viewing the film I realized the audience wasn't supposed to know Yoda's identity until he started conversing with the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan. The first was "Terminator 2." On talk shows, Arnold Schwarzenegger beamed, "This time I'm a good terminator! The bad guy is a T-1000, made of liquid metal, which can look like anyone." In the theater, the details are calculatedly ambiguous right until the two terminators confront each other and Schwarzenegger suddenly turns and protects the kid. This is the third time when the advance info has ruined a surprise. I've already seen the "Truman Show" commercials revealing the secret. My wife showed me your review of " The Truman Show," and I was crushed with chagrin to learn the movie is constructed to reveal its secret slowly to the viewer. ![]()
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