As Maxine says, you can split people into two groups

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2006)

Being John Malkovich is fun and original. It oozes creativity without being pretentious. I found myself grinning throughout (even in the dark scenes), which only happens when I really connect with a film.
As much fun as I had watching this film, however, my comments will focus primarily upon the ideas I believe Kaufman was trying to illustrate, because I cannot accept that this movie was intended solely as a wild, thoughtless ride for the audience. Through the many visits inside the head of Malkovich, Kaufman is inviting us to explore our own minds, which most of us do not like to do. The question this film can lead us toward is whether or not we are like its characters. So many of the characters, like Craig and his wife and all the people who line up to be John Malkovich, are portrayed as pathetic. They show how most people are truly unhealthy and unsatisfied. We often feel lost and are secretly more than willing to control others if it will help us fulfill our desires. And if we can't get what we want through controlling others, we can try to get it through our fantasies--or by living through other people. I don't think this film is about our longing to be another specific person so much as it is about our longing to escape our own sad lives. We often wish to escape our destiny, or even our mortality.
Of course, some people spend more time longing for a different life than others. Maxine's role in the film is to show us someone who is self-assured, and her strength sets her apart from the rest of us who often feel insecure and unsettled. Her beauty and confidence is what we want. The struggle at the heart of the film is whether we are capable of recognizing our shortcomings and then either accepting them or making the changes necessary to overcome them. Most of us can do neither, and end up like Craig, continually trying to live through others.
So the question is: Are you more of a Craig or a Maxine? And don't just focus on who you'd like to be.