Being John Malkovich Directed by: Spike Jonze Starring: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Mary Kay Place, Orson Bean Running time: 112 minutes My rating (5 star scale): ***1/2
Craig (Cusack) is an unemployed puppeteer married to animal loving Lotte (Diaz). Their house is a menagerie. Craig is a good puppeteer, but his choice of material is bizarre and gets him beat up. He finally caves in and looks for a job, following up on a peculiar ad for fast fingered, small statured people. He reports to the 7 1/2 floor of an office building (the explanation how it got to have 7 1/2 floors is one of the film's funnier moments) and, after a bizarre conversation with a receptionist (Place) who can hear nothing correctly, gets the job. In a few days, he makes two discoveries: Maxine (Keener) with whom he falls desperately in love with and a door in his office which is a portal into John Malkovich's brain.
Things get increasingly complicated as Maxine wants to cash in on the portal, Lotte meets and also falls in love with Maxine, and Malkovich catches on to what is happening. And then there's Lester (Bean), the mysterious businessman who hired Craig and may know more about all of this than anyone suspects.
The first half hour or so of this film is full of sly wit. Not laugh out loud sight gags, but really funny moments that you have to pay attention to enjoy fully. They range from Craig's bizarre puppetry, to the story behind the animals in Lotte's menagerie, to the story of the 7 1/2 floor, and finally to Maxine's very funny first date with Craig. But the final hour and a half is quite a disappointment. Oddly, the film slows down when we get into Malkovich's head. It stops being a wacky comedy, and that's certainly what this film should be, and tries to be a philosophical film with moments of humour.
Even that might have worked had the movie hit the right philosophical note. But it errs there. Craig briefly discusses the significance of having access to another person's brain and the responsibility of having such access. Maxine ponders the issue of being loved by two people and yet attracted to neither alone and one only when within Malkovich. Issues of gender identity are briefly touched upon. But the most interesting issue that could have been raised, the issue of whether it is right to sacrifice one person to save many others, is never even mentioned.
I know many critics have praised this as one of the best movies of 1999. But I cannot understand why. This is a moderately funny film that never gets as surreal as its topic would allow it to. It's a film with a strong point to make which it never makes. It's a film with good actors giving good performances for a failed cause. It's worth watching, but not worth all the hype.
-- Allan Jenoff Check out my web page at http://www3.sympatico.ca/jenoff/
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