DVD Movie Rating for: EDtv - Woody Harrelson

4 out of 5 stars

Movie Plot of: EDtv - Woody Harrelson

A comedy about a video store clerk Ed (Matthew McConaughey) whose life is thrown into chaos when he agrees to let an executive of a televison studio (Ellen DeGeneres) film him for 24 hours.

Cynthia, TV producer, has an idea about how to save the station: A normal person's life should be broadcasted 24 hours a day. "Ed TV" is born the second her eye falls on Ed Pekurny, a sympathetic Joe Sixpack. After the first week on air Eds fame grows and grows, but conflicts break open: His brother Ray publishes a very negative book about Ed, who now dates Ray's ex; Ed's parent's partnership problematics are broadcasted nationwide and a very attractive and seducing model uses innocent Ed to raise her own fame. Also, Ed's contract proves to be unquittable, so that Ed Pekurny suddenly can see the golden bars around his cage. But in a country that switches the TV set on for breakfast and off for bedtime, nearly everything can happen - and people can be counted on.

DVD Production Details of: EDtv - Woody Harrelson

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Hurley

Director: Ron Howard

Format: Color, Closed-captioned, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, Dolby

Studio: Universal Studios

DVD Release Date: March 4, 2003
DVD Features:
Widescreen anamorphic format

DVD Easter Eggs

There are some neat trailers on Universal's Collector's Edition of 'EdTV' that are not mentioned on the packaging and buried in the depths of the disc's menus.

From the disc's main menu select 'Bonus Materials'. On the second page of the bonus materials select 'Universal Showcase'. In this section you will then find trailers to the current theatrical releases of 'Bowfinger' and 'Mystery Men'. Another trailer, one for 'Apollo 13', can be found in director Ron Howard's filmography.

Cast of the movie: EDtv - Woody Harrelson

• Matthew McConaughey.... Ed 'Eddie' Pekurny
• Jenna Elfman .... Shari
• Woody Harrelson .... Ray Pekurny
• Sally Kirkland .... Jeanette
• Martin Landau .... Al
• Ellen DeGeneres .... Cynthia Topping
• Rob Reiner .... Mr. Whitaker
• Dennis Hopper.... Henry 'Hank' Pekurny
• Elizabeth Hurley .... Jill
• Adam Goldberg .... John
• Viveka Davis .... Marcia
• Clint Howard .... Ken
• Geoffrey Blake .... Keith
• Gail Boggs .... Wife
• Jenna Byrne .... Felicia

Photo Gallery of the movie: EDtv - Woody Harrelson

Click on one of the thumbnails to see the full size, high resolution photographs

Reviews of the movie: EDtv - Woody Harrelson

The third entry of 1998-99's cinematic TV trilogy kind of got lost in the shuffle following The Truman Show, an art film masquerading as a blockbuster, and Pleasantville, a heartfelt feel-good movie masquerading as a special-effects extravaganza. EDtv is nothing more than it appears: a scruffy comedy about fame and its discontents. Matthew McConaughey stars as Ed, a white-trash rube who gets his own dawn-to-midnight TV series in which every aspect of his life, no matter how sordid or dull or embarrassing, becomes mass entertainment (it inverts Truman by having the protagonist invite the pervasive cameras). Predictably, fame makes him miserable and, unsurprisingly, he finds a way out of his predicament. Albert Brooks covered this same territory in the funnier Real Life, and it's probably not the best idea for a load of comfy celebs to preach to us about how difficult fame is. But the film is cannily cast, including a number of performers who themselves have fallen victim to stupid media tricks (McConaughey, Ellen DeGeneres as the network executive, Elizabeth Hurley as a vamp hitching her star to Ed's, and Woody Harrelson as Ed's even dumber brother). Structurally, the movie is a mess. It looks as if the filmmakers had the choice between making a fully realized, two-and-a-half-hour-long movie that no one would sit through or one that clocks in under two hours but has a lot of plot holes; they opted for the latter (Hurley's character disappears, practically without comment). Still, there are enough laughs to keep things moving, and as a shaggy dog tale it's decent fun.

Oh shut up, you liked it.
EdTV undeservedly acquired a less than enviable reputation for no other reason that the fact that it followed so closely on the heels of The Truman Show, an entirely different movie that had a similar plot foundation. So needless to say, there will be plenty of cynical but superficial comparisons of the two films, but EdTV is more than able to stand on its own.

The Truman Show was a drama with some comedic undertones, but mostly because it starred the endlessly amusing Jim Carrey, who is funny whether he is trying to be or not. EdTV, on the other hand, is a romantic comedy in which some regular guy gets his life put on TV because he won the contest that was held to decide who the lucky star would be. The reason that this seems to be so similar to The Truman Show is because both films concern regular people whose lives are broadcast on TV 24 hours a day, but The Truman Show is a bout a guy who doesn't know that his life is a TV show and eventually begins to catch on, while EdTV is about a guy who is given the opportunity to be broadcast on TV, and all of the problems that this causes him.

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson work excellently on screen as Ed, the guy who is put on TV, and Ray, his energetic brother, who WANTS his life to be put on TV. You get a unique love triangle between the two brothers and Shari, the object of both of their affection. Shari is actually one of the better characters in the film, because the viewing audience soon proves to not be very fond of Shari, and Jenna Elfman makes this very believable with her nerve gratingly aggravating performance. Interviews with the public showed that people were fed up with her whole attitude about the whole EdTV spectacle, and I found myself feeling the same way. Every time she was on screen complaining I just wanted her to get lost.

It is McConaughey and Harrelson who really made the film work, with their excellent performances (but what the hell was the deal with the chicken dance?). The film also very effectively evoked some genuine emotion at several points, particularly in the scenes that dealt with Ed's and Ray's torn family life. There area also some very well known actors, particularly Dennis Hopper and Elizabeth Hurley, who show up in EdTV for some relatively small roles. If you still aren't convinced that this is a totally different movie than The Truman Show and that it is hugely entertaining, or if you have seen it already and dismiss it as an unimaginative rip-off of The Truman Show, put EdTV on and sit in the room, do something to occupy yourself, and try not to watch it. I guarantee you that you will sit there and watch the entire movie.