Being John Malkovich (1999), Spike Jonze

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Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Overall Rating:

(out of 5)

Oh-my-goodness. I fell in love with this movie. Its crazy, over-the-top, beautiful, inventive GENIUS, I say! This is a MUST-SEE!

The Story:

(out of 5)

1 Point: Interesting

2 Points: Original

1 Point: Unpredictable

1 Point: OMGZ

A talented puppeteer with no audience is convinced by his wife to find a job until his puppeteering job takes off. At his new job, he finds a port-hole into the mind of a B-actor named John Malkovich. After 12 minutes, you are ejected onto the side of the New Jersey turnpike.

He falls in love with a coworker and, together, they exploit this phenomena for $100 a pop. His wife finds out, and takes a free ride, which leads to a riot of sex confusion, webbed love triangles, and immortality.

Characters:

(out of 5)

1 Point: Well-Played

1 Point: Original

1 Point: Relatable

1 Point: Emotional Attachment

1 Point: OMGZ

Craig Schwartz (John Cusack): A misunderstood puppeteer who is unhappy with his current life and marriage. He is the one who discovers the porthole.

Lotte Schwartz (Cameron Diaz): An animal-lover who experiences a variety of sex confusions, and falls in love with being inside of John Malkovich.

Maxine Lund (Catherine Keener): Sexy and confident, she gets both Lotte and Craig to fall in love with her and exploits Craig's find.

Believability:

(out of 5)

1 Point: No Disbelief

1 Point: Well-Explained

1 Point: Characters Fit Conceivably

1 Point: Not Foolishly Omniscient

1 Point: OMGZ

Of course its far-fetched, but it really shows how amazing a movie is if you can believe it. Not likely, but amazingly well-written, acted, and directed to the point where you can see this kind of thing happening. Toh-tah-lly coooool.

Weight:

(out of 5)
1 Point: Relatable Lives
1 Point: Relatable Choices
1 Point: "Wow" Moments
1 Point: Lasting
1 Point: OMGZ

It gets you thinking. You're thrown off on these crazy turns every couple of minutes, and the ending just made my jaw drop. I wouldn't say its life-changing, or holds the keys to the meaning of life, but its weighty in its own way.

Visual:

(out of 5)
2 Points: Visual Quality
1 Point: Unique Visual Perspective
1 Point: Special Effects
1 Point: OMGZ

It didn't look cheap, and it didn't really need to pay that much attention to special effects, so I am a little at a loss as to how to rate this section.