Corny, sentimental movies almost always leave me cold. I’m one of the few people in the world who can’t even stand Frank Capra’s holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. But along comes The Majestic, a film oozing sentimentality --- and it bowls me over completely. How could such a thing happen? Easily. By taking me back to the days of those great neighborhood movie theaters, this cinematic journey warmed my heart and evoked happy memories of by-gone days.

As youngsters, my cousins and I spent most weekends at the Clyne and Avalon, two movie houses right across the street from each other. Sometimes we’d go to both theaters on the same day. We loved the exciting double features and added attractions --- which never failed to include a serial, a newsreel, and a cartoon. Oh, what fun it was to cheer on such heroes as Buck Rogers, hiss at villains like Ming, and gorge on popcorn and Milk Duds!

The Majestic refers to a theater similar to our beloved Clyne and Avalon. Jim Carrey (The Grinch) plays a Hollywood screenwriter suffering from amnesia. Mistaken for a missing soldier, Carrey gets taken in by Martin Landau (Ed Wood), a man who lives above an old cinema and believes Carrey to be his long-lost, heroic son. Fans of Carrey’s comic persona might be disappointed in his laid-back performance here, but I found it to be one of the best of the year. His transformation from a studio yes-man and writer of B-movies into a thoughtful man of integrity is a joy to watch.

Screenwriter Michael Sloane says he wanted Carrey for this role because he’s so evocative of the protagonist in The Majestic. "He’s the embodiment of that everyman that Jimmy Stewart played so brilliantly in the past," explains Sloane. I agree. Although Carrey virtually portrays two very different individuals, he manages to project a Jimmy Stewart-like quality in practically every scene. I could almost hear Stewart in Carrey’s voice as he responds to a question about what his character’s new movie is about. "Not much. Fear, pain, nobility --- just the human condition."

While saluting the Hollywood of yesteryear, The Majestic also deals effectively with one of the bleakest periods in filmdom’s history, the government’s investigation into communism among show biz personnel. By showing how this witch-hunt ruined one writer’s career, the movie had a profound impact on me. Here’s a theme that’s been covered before in films like Guilty By Suspicion (1991) and The Front (1976), but I didn’t feel as involved with the main characters in those efforts. Watching what happened to Peter Appleton (Carrey) convinced me of the hopelessness people must have felt when accused of communist activities back in the 50s.

Small town America never looked quite as good as it does in this nostalgic film directed by Frank Darabont (The Green Mile). Ferndale, California, was chosen as the filming location. "Ferndale has maintained its old-fashioned character and has been kept pristine over the years," Darabont points out. Ironically, it’s one of the few communities without a movie theater, so the filmmaker had to build The Majestic on a parking lot in the center of town. I was amazed at how authentic this cinema looked, even with its hodgepodge of styles. And when that marquee finally came to life in glorious neon colors, it gave me a shiver of pleasure.

The Majestic proves it’s still possible to produce an enjoyable movie for adults without excessive violence, gratuitous sex, or obscene language. That sound you hear is me --- still applauding this wonderful film about movies, patriotism, and the human condition.

(Released by Warner Bros. and rated "PG" for language and mild thematic elements.)