Screening at the Panida, The Majestic is a nostalgic drama starring Jim Carrey

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

While Jim Carrey is far and away best known for his signature rubber-faced comedy roles, his first major foray into drama came with the 2001 film The Majestic.

Carrey performs the lead as Peter Appleton, a screenwriter being blacklisted as a suspected communist during McCarthy-era Hollywood. Facing political persecution, Appleton’s starlet girlfriend gives him the boot at the same time as his studio contract is canceled. His response is to get drunk and take a winding California coastal drive that results in a car wreck that leaves him with amnesia.

Waking up befuddled on the beach, he’s rescued by a passerby who takes him to a nearby small town where Harry Trimble (Martin Landau) becomes convinced that Appleton is actually his son, who went missing in World War II. Lacking any memory or evidence to the contrary, Appleton goes along with Trimble’s belief and begins to make a place for himself in the community — going on to help with the revitalization of the local theater (the titular Majestic), but his past isn’t far behind.

The film wasn’t exactly a smash with critics, and lost $35 million at the box office, but its earnest, nostalgic tone and ensemble cast — especially Carrey’s atypically serious performance — resonated at least with iconic film reviewer Roger Ebert, who gave it three-and-a-half stars. 

The Panida Theater will present a screening of The Majestic on Friday, Sept. 18, with doors open at 6 p.m. and the film at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10.50 for adults and $7.50 for seniors and students, available at panida.org or the box office (300 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint).