Description
While too many movies suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being
John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly
original that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and
screenwriter Charlie Kaufman a thank-you note for restoring your
faith in the enchantment of film. Even if it ultimately serves
little purpose beyond the thrill of comedic invention, this
demented romance is gloriously entertaining, spilling over with
ideas that tickle the brain and even touch the heart. That's to be
expected in a movie that dares to ponder the existential dilemma of
a forlorn puppeteer (John Cusack) who discovers a metaphysical
portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich. The puppeteer's
working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a
Manhattan office building; this idea alone might serve as the
comedic basis for an entire film, but Jonze and Kaufman are just
getting started. Add a devious coworker (Catherine Keener),
Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely recognizable Cameron Diaz), and a
business scheme to capitalize on the thrill of being John
Malkovich, and you've got a movie that just gets crazier as it
plays by its own outrageous rules. Malkovich himself is the film's
pice de rsistance, riffing on his own persona with obvious delight
and--when he enters his own brain via the portal--appearing with
multiple versions of himself in a tour-de-force use of digital
trickery. Does it add up to much? Not really. But for 112
liberating minutes, Being John Malkovich is a wild place to visit.
--Jeff Shannon
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