Endlessly imaginative...

Rating: 7/10 (14 April 2002)

I'm surprised so many viewers enjoyed this film--it goes so far out on a limb that it threatens to be potentially alienating to an audience. This is a ticklish joy-ride, full of sheer ridiculousness, yet it all comes together smoothly, managing to be completely free of any cinematic inhibitions. John Cusack plays a puppeteer (with beautiful puppets) who gets an office job in a very odd building (on the 7 1/2 floor!), where the term 'low overhead' is literal. The movie does get convoluted in its final stretch, but it never fails to be engaging and wildly clever. The acting by Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener and John Malkovich is superb. Fanciful, original and amusing ideas come from left and right. Credit writer Charles Kaufman with a screenplay that is never pretentious or cynical, and director Spike Jones for never losing sight of his characters, all mad romantics. *** from ****