Interesting idea, but messy and uninteresting afterward

Rating: 5/10 (18 September 2000)

The idea of entering someone else's brain for 15 minutes is interesting. The fact that after those 15 minutes you are inexplicably dropped by the New Jersey turnpike is funny just because, well, it's silly. And the fact that the brain you enter is John Malkovich is different, if nothing else.
But once you get used to those concepts, and the existence of a floor in a building that is 60 percent the size of a normal floor (to save on rent costs), then you are left with ... time to kill.
I looked forward to seeing BJM, and for the first 25 minutes I was entertained. But then the surprises stopped coming. Instead, we see more and more odd and generally uninteresting events, concerning characters who are not likeable and whose motives are selfish and at times vague. The last hour of the movie I kept glancing at my watch, wondering when it would be over.
Kudos to John Malkovich for being willing to play this role (though who wouldn't want a film with your name in it?). And I have to say I didn't even recognize Cameron Diaz. Cusack is fine, as is the actress who plays Maxine. But they are all characters who are hard to like or care about, and after you see the film's main hook there isn't much else to do except wait out the conclusion.
I gave BJM a 5.