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Director: Spike Jonze (MTV videos and acting role in Three Kings)
Cast: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, Orson Bean and John Malkovich
Rating: R
Run Time: 112 minutes

THE SKINNY
Bizarre tale of a nobody looking for and finding a way to be a somebody.

THE REVIEW
In Being John Malkovich, unquestionably the most original and bizarre film this year, rookie screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman, has taken the concept of living vicariously through someone else to the extreme. Directed by Spike Jonze, the film stars John Cusack as the despondent Craig Schwartz, a clearly gifted puppeteer, who is forced to take a job as a filing clerk due to the lack of job opportunities in his line of work. Craig’s home life is no better. He and his pet-shop worker wife, Lotte, played by Cameron Diaz, approach their marriage with what at best amounts to indifference. Pathetically, the two share their apartment with several ailing animals, among them a chimp with an ulcer, that serve as surrogate children for the couple. The Schwartz’s lives are turned upside down when Craig discovers a portal that quite literally leads those who enter it into the mind of John Malkovich.

I wouldn’t venture to guess what exactly inspired Mr. Kaufman to write this ingenious script. To be fair, many of the issues addressed in Being John Malkovich - how people cope with infidelity, despair, aging, celebrity, desire, self discovery, self fulfillment and self esteem - have been dealt with in films previously. Yet, this film excels because it so ably addresses these issues in an entirely unique way.

Given the incredibly outlandish subject matter of the film, the thought-provoking issues dealt with in this movie were easily at risk of being upstaged by the visual spectacle of the inside of Mr. Malkovich’s brain that could have been. Jonze, however, masterfully avoids turning this film into yet another showcase for the latest in special effects wizardry and instead makes the characters the focus of the movie.

John Cusack, who has quietly amassed a significant collection of films to his credit, gave a convincing performance that finally enabled me to see him as someone other than Lloyd Dobler (although he was terrific in The Grifters and very solid in Grosse Pointe Blank). Cameron Diaz was fine in her role, but nothing more. The fact that she was made to look so homely in this film only served to highlight her limited talents as an actress. Catherine Keener, who plays Craig’s sexy, ice queen of an officemate, Maxine, gives by far the strongest and most enjoyable performance in the film. John Malkovich is, well, John Malkovich. Both first-timers, Kaufman and Jonze did superb jobs. We definitely will be hearing Kaufman’s name read on Oscar night (at least as a nominee).

What struck me most about this groundbreaking film was how Kaufman was able to profoundly explore issues that would normally have left the audience feeling awkward or at least a bit uncomfortable. Haven’t we all, at some point in our lives, wished we could experience life as someone else, or at least experience it with a different set of tools than those with which we were dealt? Kaufman wants his audience to look introspectively. Does he want us to gain a greater appreciation for what we have? Does he want us to be free of self-deprecation, to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and to just go after what we want? Or, does he simply want us to accept ourselves for who we are? See the movie and decide for yourself…

By: Craig Ettinger

HIGHLIGHTS
*Amazingly clever sequence in which Malkovich travels inside his own head
*Scenes in which Schwartz displays his incredible talents as a puppeteer
*Any action that takes place at the office building where Schwartz works
*Keener’s performance
*A perfect cameo (can’t give it away)

LOWLIGHTS
* As the novelty of the movie wears toward the latter part of the film, so does the film’s pace (but only a bit).