Better than I remembered.

Rating: 8/10 (21 April 2019)

I watched this film for the first time about 10-15 years ago, and remember very little about it except a doorway at the back of a store, some annoying actors, and quite a boring and unmemorable plot, but for some reason I have had this film in my list of five-to-six films to watch 'now' for a long time. It sits there peering at me for some inexplicable reason.
Last night I actually decided to watch it, not expecting much at all. The thing that struck me is the funny, silly, tongue-in-cheek nature of this film, which shouldn't be taken too seriously. But is it a comedy? Not really.
The acting is immense, especially Catherine Keener (who I never liked before) as an utterly sarcastic, super-empowered cynic. John Cusack and Cameron Diaz play the part of a wacky couple involved in a quaint marriage, happily in love, but weirdly going about their individual existences at the same time.
And then things get interesting. A portal is discovered into the brain of John Malkovitch, enabling 'visitors' to become John Malkovitch for 15 minutes. This experience is so overwhelming and enlightening it has the effect of a new drug and, once experienced, all the visitor wants to do is go back through the portal and live that experience over and over again. This affects relationships, marriages, interpersonal feelings, and even sexual orientation, especially between the married couple.
By the end of the movie everything is completely on its head. Multitudes of paying customers, even a clan of elderly people, compete for JM hits and control over the host.
What struck me the most about this film was how humorous and enjoyable it was in comparison to my overly serious perception of it in the past, as though it was supposed to mean something. In fact, it means very little at all, but emphasises how marriages can be fickle to the point of self-destruction.