The Majestic

A heartfelt and surprisingly successful revival of the cinema-idyllic world of Frank Capra movies, The Majestic stars Jim Carrey as a blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter with amnesia who stumbles into a small coastal hamlet where he's mistaken for a long-lost native World War II hero. Affable alchemy is the specialty of director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) and he's just about the only big-budget, soft-sell director in the business who could pull off this kind of potentially cloying picture without sending it into sugar shock. Shortcomings include transparent plots, intrusive cutaways to sinister senators and shadowy FBI guys, and a farfetched finale that's too reminiscent of Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But if you can set aside your modern cynicism for a movie that takes place in CapraWorld, embrace the inevitable clichés, and forgive unimportant plot holes from time to time, you'll be rewarded. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include seven additional scenes, Sand Pirates of the Sahara--the complete sequence of the movie within the movie, a brief trailer, and a succinct historical background on the Hollywood blacklist. Bottom line: a so-so extras package for a better-than-expected sentimental film.] (R. Blackwelder)