Farcical Dark Comedy

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2000)

If Music Video Auteur, Spike Jonze's first feature-length film is any indication, this will be someone to keep an eye on. Jonze is to Music Videos what Steven Spielberg is to movies. Two videos in particular, Weezer's "Buddy Holly" and "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys have become classics. "Holly" spliced footage from "Happy Days" with Weezer playing in a mock-up of Arnold's. "Sabotage" was a skillful parody of 1970s police dramas a la "Starsky and Hutch." My personal favorite, though, is Bjork's "Oh, So Quiet" which was an affectionate homage to Fred Astaire dance musicals. All of his videos are known for their creativity and visual flair.
So one would expect a lot of flair from "Being John Malkovich." Strangely enough, not in this film. "Being John Malkovich" has enough chutzpah and imagination from its very strange story.
John Cusack plays a down-on-his-luck, and facial-hair covered, puppeteer named Craig. In any other movie that may sound like a cliche, but in a hilarious opening sequence, Craig performs a beautiful yet highly erotic puppet show. And of course the only people watching it are a very traumatized nine-year-old and her outraged father. Said father then punches Craig. Our puppeteer hero is married to Lotte, an almost unrecognizable and homely-looking Cameron Diaz. Lotte is a pet store owner who keeps most of the pets in their cramped apartment. It seems the young married couple are experiencing financial woes and Cusack must go get a "real" job. Since he's good with his fingers, he gets a job as a filer in an office building....on the 7 1/2 floor.
Things get stranger. The floor has incredibly low ceilings so everyone must spend their time hunched over. The film does a great subtle job in the weirdness. Brief reactions of bemusement are given by Cusack, but nothing over-the-top. Weirdness filters in and out of life after all. Why do you need to act surprised? It is on this floor that Craig first lays eyes on Maxine (Catharine Keener) and falls in lust with her. Maxine is not impressed with our puppeteer and is even less impressed when he tells her his talent. "You still play with toys?"
Things couldn't get any worse, right? But they do get weirder. As Cusack is filing one day he happens across a little door behind a file cabinet. Curious, he enters the door and finds a portal that leads into John Malkovich's consciousness. Yes, John Malkovich. Otherwise the title wouldn't make much sense. The catch is that he can only spend 15 minutes in the body before being spit out on the New Jersey Turnpike. Why New Jersey? Why not?
Later he tells his wife about the metaphysical ramifications about this particular Pandora's door. She tries it out anyway and finds she enjoys being a man. Meanwhile, Cusack tells Maxine about the door and she comes across a capital idea of turning in some profit from people who want to be a celebrity. That distinction is important. A great running joke of the film is that everyone knows who John Malkovich is but they can't recall any of the films that he has done. Everyone just wants to be someone else for fifteen minutes.
Things get more complicated as each member of our trio wants to use Malkovich for their own means. Then Malkovich gets wind of the door and enters into his own consciousness. And if that ain't weird enough, don't worry. You'll have plenty to go "Wha?" about.
Kaufman has got his own brand of logic to this illogical story. There are certain subversions to classic character traits. For instance, Malkovich the victim comes up with the most logical idea: Seal the damn door. But it lasts for only three minutes as his humane plea goes unheard. I felt sorry for Malkovich the character. Then there is our hero. He at first tries the door out, then feels reluctant to share this information citing metaphysical inconsistencies that could prove irreparable. But when Maxine begins to show interest in Malkovich, Craig goes ahead just to be with Maxine. In fact everyone in the film is suffering from some form of obsession; even Lotte disregards Malkovich's right to exist as an individual because she wants to complete her self-actualization as a man and consummate with Maxine as Malkovich.
That I think prevents this film from being four stars. The first thirty minutes are farce funny as it piles on layers and layers of strangeness. Then things take a dark turn as Malkovich becomes Cusack's ultimate puppet. I get the sense that nothing went unheeded with detail. Everything makes sense in the story; nothing is weird for weirdness's sake.
The cast does an excellent job. Especially John Malkovich for allowing himself to be in on the joke. He seems to be having fun. Cusack proves himself in another wonderful performance as a nobody schnook-hero who turns into a monster. Keener makes a great bitch. And Diaz is terrific as a homely wife who finds her happiness by pursuing masculinity in Malkovich.
But Spike Jonze provides intelligent restraint. One can almost imagine what Hollywood would do with a story like this, probably add some computer effects for the portal and the expending on the New Jersey Turnpike. Again, the story is fantastical enough that added effects would underscore the artificiality of the film. In other words, there is a nice sense of realism in the details.
I actually had a nightmare after the film in which I dreamt there was another consciousness dwelling inside me. So that must say something about what kind of effect it had on me. The scary thing about "Being John Malkovich" is that if there was a way for people to change their identities, they probably would. The question is would they want to go back. Would you?