Movie of the Day: Being John Malkovich

  After Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which I loved, I was really looking forward to whichever Charlie Kaufman-penned movie I would watch next. My two options were Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. This one seemed more interesting and was the one I knew less about, so I decided on this.

The Basic Premise: Puppeteer Craig Schwartz finds a portal which takes you literally into actor John Malkovich's body and mind. Chaos ensues. (Now, don't let this mislead you. There's a good half an hour of movie before Craig ever finds the portal. This is a very character-and-conflict-driven movie. Very hard to explain all of the crazy things that go on in this movie.)

The Verdict: This is possibly the oddest film I've ever seen. Like, the craziness of premise, of gags and jokes, even of third-act plot devices, is off the charts. This is a fantasy/sci-fi dramedy (emphasis on the comedy) at its core, and it does all of these things well. It is absolutely laugh out loud funny at some points, emotionally compelling at others, sometimes just on the verge of both with dark situational humor. It's really a bizarre movie.
  Now, it's also hailed as one of the greatest screenplays ever written, and I think I'd have to disagree, given the insertion of several third act plot points to resolve the story how it should be and a lot of on-the-nose dialogue. On the other hand, the shoehorning of plot points almost adds to the weirdness of the movie, which may be the end goal. Also, I tried explaining the basic plot of this movie to a friend today, and it would probably take me longer than the length of the movie to sort out all of the insane character relationships and stuff in a retelling, so maybe it was more concise than I thought.
  Regardless, it's a movie that's almost too weird to judge. As far as enjoyability and achieving the writer's and director's vision goes, I'm gonna give this an 8.8/10.

Favorite Line: "You don't know how lucky you are being a monkey. Because consciousness is a terrible curse. I think. I feel. I suffer. And all I ask in return is the opportunity to do my work. And they won't allow it... because I raise issues." Sittin' at home alone, talking to his pet monkey about how his whole life is a paradoxical failure... Pretty effectively shows that Craig's both pathetic and discontented with his life.