Pungent black comedy about the consequences of human exploitation.

Rating: Null/10 (21 December 2002)

Weird. Strange. Thought-provoking. These adjectives can be used to accurately describe what you may feel after watching this very original satire/fantasy written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a struggling puppeteer who gets a job as a filing clerk on the 7 1/2 (!) floor of an office building. One day after dropping a folder behind a filing cabinet, Craig discovers a small door which leads him into the actual mind of actor John Malkovich! After experiencing this unbelievable sensation, he is then dumped in a ditch near The New Jersey Turnpike. Craig then relates his experience to his bisexual, pet-loving wife Lotte (played by an unrecognizable Cameron Diaz) who after going through the portal herself, is convinced that she REALLY wants to be John Malkovich! Malkovich himself seems to be having a good time poking fun at his own image, giving light to his own hang-ups and eccentricities. However, the film's most colorful character is the shrewd, shrewish, and cold-hearted office worker Maxine Lund (played to perfection by Catherine Keener, who deservedly won an Academy Award nomination), who finds herself becoming the object of both Craig and Lotte's sexual obsessions. For a $200 fee, Craig and Maxine begin offering everyday people their own chance to be John Malkovich, leading to a dramatic (and less than hilarious) conclusion.. This is an imaginative and sensational expose (in the vein of "Network" and "Bamboozled") about the effects of trading in integrity for dollars. Nominated for 3 Oscars, "Being John Malkovich" is a movie experience like no other.