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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (28 - 30 of 42 Reviews)

ALEXS CAPSULE MOVIE REVIEWS
Highlights: Jim Carrey's superior performance, and Kate Winslet shines as usual; scenes of blistering intensity; a quirky script in the top league of Charlie Kaufman's creations; poignant themes.
Lowpoints: Really gets moving about 30 minutes into the film - a little too confusing/irritating till then; under-developed Elijah Woods' character (maybe for the better); very pretentious at times.
Conclusion: Michael Gondry does a much more successfully executed follow-up to his ambitious but deeply flawed 'Human Nature'. The title WILL make sense by the end, as the film becomes progressively more ingenious. As with all Kaufman scripts, revealing the plot is pointless - quirky and original, sometimes pretentious (like 'Adaptation') 'Sunshine...' offers a nuanced career-best from Jim Carrey (forget 'The Majestic', pleeease), a sexy Kate Winslet (it's easy to see how one could fall head-over-heels for her flirty heroine with acid-colored hair), and a genuinely affecting script. It takes a little too long to take off, but once it does, your confusion will become revelation. Amazing imagery, amazing acting, amazing direction -anyone who likes to use some brain cells while watching film, GO WATCH THIS!

Charlie Kaufman messes with our minds once again.
Charlie Kaufman's screenplay for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" may be his most elaborate cinematic mind game yet; as filmed by Michel Gondry, with a superb cast led by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, it's at least tied with "Being John Malkovich" as his most entertaining. This definitely is a movie that the less you know about it going in, the better, so this is all I will tell you about the plot: Tom Wilkinson is a doctor who heads Lacuna Inc., a company devoted to helping people erase their most unpleasant memories; Carrey and Winslet are an unhappy couple who (separately) come to Wilkinson to wipe out all memories of each other; Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood are various employees of Wilkinson, with entanglements of their own. From there on in, the movie becomes a virtuoso meditation on the importance of memory, the problem of pain and the persistence of love. Kaufman and Gondry (aided immeasurably by photographer Ellen Kuras, who gives the film a compellingly unreal look) have many, many surprises in store for us, all of which would be spoiled if I said any more about them. I'll just say that viewers have to work to keep up with the whiplash changes and hairpin turns of the plot and the visual imagery, but I think most will find it worthwhile. "Eternal Sunshine," as you would expect from Carrey's presence, gives us lots of chuckles and a number of belly laughs, yet its overall mood is romantic and serious, even melancholy. Carrey gives what is probably his best performance to date, and the rest of the cast matches his high level of talent and energy. "Eternal Sunshine" is one more of Kaufman's brainy cinematic rollercoaster rides, and adventurous filmgoers should hop on board immediately.

Very smart and sweet
I saw the beautiful "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" about 2 weeks ago, but have refrained from writing a review until I thought I knew just what to say about it.
I'm sure you know the plot by now. Joel (played perfectly by Jim Carrey) finds out that his wild ex-girlfriend of 2 years (Another perfect performance by Kate Winslet) has had all her memories of him erased. Hurt and confused, he goes to the same clinic she did to get the procedure done himself. The rest of the movie now swiches back and forth from inside Joel's mind with all memories of Clementine slowly being broken apart (literally) and the sub-stories about the three young erasers actually performing the procedure while Joel sleeps. About halfway through the process, Joel realizes upon reliving the memories with Clementine, that he truly does love her. But when he wakes up he won't remember her. So he tries to hide her in other parts of his mind before it's too late.
This is a very humble film. It knows it's brilliant, but never boasts. It just thrives in it's own genuine originality from beginning to end, unlike some films that seem to shout every 5 minutes, "Isn't this COOL? Look how wacky we are! This is smart! SMART!"
I wasn't sure exactly how they would show Joel's memories being erased and how Clementine would act in them, but it's actually very simple. Since it is in Joel's head, it's not REALLY Clementine he's talking to. The memories are real enough, but the Clementine he interacts with, the one he desperately tries to hide away from the erasers once he realizes he's made a mistake, is just an idea of her. Since this is true, all he has to say is, "Look, I need to hide you from them" and she goes along with it without asking any questions. It's almost dreamlike.
This is definately the sweetest movie I've seen in a long time. It's also funny, real, romantic, and very smart. Remember Jim Carrey's name come Oscar-Time.

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