A Rarity in American Cinema...Groundbreaking Originality

Rating: 9/10 (7 July 2008)

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH is a zany and uncompromisingly brilliant black comedy that boasts something very few American films can claim...originality. Charlie Kaufman's imaginative, Oscar-worthy screenplay centers around an unemployed puppeteer named Craig (John Cusack, in a delightfully unhinged turn), who gets a job as a file clerk at a company called Lestercorp, which is lodged between the 7th and 8th floors of an office building. Craig discovers a hole in the wall of his office which turns out to be a portal into the mind of actor John Malkovich, which allows those who enter to view the world from Malkovich's mind for 15 minutes, at which time they are then deposited at the side of the road on the New Jersey Turnpike. To reveal anymore of the story would be wrong for the uninitiated, but suffice it to say that director Spike Jonz has mounted a quirky and unpredictable roller coaster ride which keeps the viewer constantly guessing and consistently entertained. Cusack receives solid support from Catherine Keener, smart and vivacious in her Oscar-nominated turn as Maxine, Craig's partner-in-crime with whom he falls in love, Cameron Diaz as Craig's dizzy wife, Lottie, and, of course,Malkovich himself, who deserves major kudos for allowing us to laugh along with him, at himself and his image. A once in a lifetime cinematic experience.