Tries too hard.

Rating: Null/10 (29 March 2006)

This is a film which tries too hard to be a lot of things. It succeeds at being none of them. It tries to be clever. It tries to be original. It tries to be witty.
Anyway, people will tell you that this film is original. They are wrong. Things which appear to be original are, in fact, stolen from science fiction stories which have a much higher level of quality. This seems to be a recurring theme in a lot of writer Charlie Kaufman's work, yet he continues to be praised for it. The only good thing that can be said for him is that he chooses excellent things to steal from.
Yes, the main character is a puppeteer. We get it. The metaphor is really unnecessary. We also get the Andy Warhol reference. Ha-ha-ha. Too clever.
Naming a poultric bird after a senator also? That's brilliant. Add to that the fact that the senator in question is slightly bird-like and you have something which is unparalleled in modern cinema, and something which is completely unnecessary. An effort to be political? Let's hope not.
I've heard people say that the film is good because of Spike Jonze's direction of "the mirror scene" (for lack of a better term). One scene of questionable quality does not make a good film. I don't care how hard it was to do, I just want it to be good.
Oh, and Cameron Diaz trying to show how good of an actress she is by wearing a wig and possibly a false nose? That seems to be one of the hallmarks of good acting these days: body accoutrements. Though they add nothing to the portrayal, they are lauded, even to the point of Oscar nomination and victory.
Overall, a very overrated film you'd do well to steer clear of. Even if it wasn't overrated it'd still be a bad film.
1 out of 10.