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Being John Malkovich Customer Reviews (55 - 57 of 67 Reviews)

Unrealized potential
I purchased this film with high hopes, being an aficionado of off-kilter movies. And with a plot like Being John Malkovich's, how could I go wrong? A downtrodden puppeteer, working on floor seven and half of an office building, discovers a portal into the mind of John Malkovich. Even with such an intriguing premise, though, I felt this movie struck out (I am in the minority in feeling this).

Let me first say that all of the primary actors performed brilliantly. Cusack played both the melancholy and crazy sides of Craig the puppeteer quite well, and Diaz really shone as his quirky wife. One of the best performances was by Malkovich himself, lampooning himself quite handily and playing the different "inhabitants" of his body as adroitly as he played his own self.

However, even these brilliant performances don't save the movie. Fantasy is a difficult genre to conduct successfully, contrary to popular belief. One of the unwritten rules of fantasy is that, no matter how fantastical the story, it needs to be internally consistent. The film fails miserably in this aspect. Sometimes only a single person can inhabit Malkovich, sometimes multiple people. Far-fetched explanations about the subconscious and the "power of the puppeteer" attempt to account for this discrepancy but ultimately prove insufficient, if you follow them through to their logical conclusions. The writer also throws in several random occurrences with no apparent connection to the idea of the portal. Why, for instance, does Malkovich end up in a world full of people who look like him when he goes through the portal? Is this some play on his ego? On the nature of how we see the world? I really don't know, and I don't think these inconsistencies were meant to be "things to make you go hmm," as in other films.

And I suppose that's really what really bothered about Being John Makovich. The idea is a fascinating one, brilliant even, with so much potential. But that potential is squandered for cheap laughs: a lesbian affair through Malkovich's body, chimpanzee childhood traumas, lecherous old men, etc. Instead of harnessing the inherent ironic humor in the idea and making this a thought-provoking movie, the writers used the idea to string together several cheesy laughs characteristic of other Hollywood comedies.

As it is, I give Malkovich a star for good acting and another star for a nice idea. For a real five-star, absurd, ironic, and absolutely fascinating comedy, I recommend Fight Club.

Best film of 1999
This is the kind of film that can restore your faith in American cinema. That it was even produced is a miracle, let alone received Oscar nominations. Unjustly deprived of the award for Best Original Screenplay (losing to "American Beauty"), Charlie Kaufman's magnificently absurd story works on so many levels: as surrealist fantasy, as a critique of our fascination with fame, as an acid inquiry into gender, power games and sexual manipulation, and, more simply, as just one hell of a funny trip. What's particularly impressive is that despite his story being relentlessly and increasingly ludicrous, Kaufman manages to tie-up all the loose ends and deliver an ending which is as heartbreaking as it is hilarious. He also gives us some of the funniest lines ever spoken on screen, to wit: 'Behind the stubble, the too prominent brow, and male pattern baldness, I sensed you feminine longing.' Spike Jonze extracts near-perfect performances from his high-calibre cast, with Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener cleverly playing against type, and John Cusack showing his incredible versatility. Three cheers for originality and having the courage to follow it through.

Bizarre, Twisted ... and Great
This is one of those films that you sit back afterwards, take a deep breath, ... and then wonder what the heck just happened. It's easy to get lost in the weird and warped sense of reality that Spike Jonze presents -- and impossible to think your way out of it.

This movie never would have worked without John Malkovich ("Being Dustin Hoffman" ... I don't think so), but with him in the title role, it's beautiful (and actually one of his best performances in recent years). Charlie Kaufman has written an excellent and highly original script here. Add the remainder of the cast (you know, the lead roles) -- and the brilliant direction by Jonze -- and you see what makes this the great film it is.

Jonze's direction brings unexpected performances from well-known actors. John Cusack and Cameron Diaz, who aren't exactly no-talents to begin with, are truly unforgettable in this film. Once you abandon yourself to the reality that there is a portal into John Malkovich in the middle of some office building in Manhattan ... you're in for a heck of a ride.

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