You Were Great in That Jewel Thief Movie

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2006)

First, let's just say this was so much better than I expected -- and I already had high hopes. John Cusack? John Malkovich? What more could you want? Now, I would have been hesitant if I had known Cameron Diaz was going to show up, but she was a minor part of the film and handled herself well. One or two more good films and I might finally forgive her for "Vanilla Sky".
The story is very absurd: a young puppeteer finds a door in his office that goes in side John Malkovich's mind. That's strange enough, but it gets so much wackier from there (but I won't ruin it for you). You have Malkovich in the primary role, who is by far one of the greatest actors in history. And you have Cusack as the secondary role, who is also a great actor - one might even say more versatile (his costume in this film makes him almost unrecognizable as Cusack).
What more can I say without giving this away? First, the film is really deep (existential) but also very funny. When Cusack first tells his co-worker about the portal, she asked "who is John Malkovich?" which I find hilarious - both because I wondered the same thing when the film first came out, and also because it begins a long string of self-deprecating Malkovich moments.
The only other thing you need to know if you're not already sold: this film is a Charlie Kaufman creation. Who's Kaufman? The guy who made "Adaptation". And if you haven't seen that, you really ought to (I'd even say it a better film than this classic). There you go: I just suggested a double feature. Get your rump in gear and visit the video store.