A Unique and Engaging Film Without a Heart

Rating: Null/10 (20 November 1999)

For all its sharp humor, engaging performances, and unflinching willingness to pursue a patently ludicrous premise with the utmost seriousness, "Being John Malkovich" seems, in the end, to suffer from a frustrating mean-spiritedness.
The film's first half is strong, as it dumps the viewer into the lackluster life of a very bedraggled-looking John Cusack, the out-of-work puppeteer who wades through a dreary life of thwarted artistic vision and a joyless marriage. In his discovery of a portal into John Malkovich's head, he finds an ultimate escapism- the ability to experience slices of life through the eyes of someone more successful than himself. It is to the film's credit that it doesn't dwell on the absurdity of the discovery; rather, it pursues the practical ramifications: the impact on Cusack's life and marriage, and the notion of using the portal for profit.
Unfortunately, the film shoots itself in the foot as it wears on. The filmmakers elect to provide an awkward and convoluted explanation for the phenomenon, which removes a good deal of its fantastic charm. And as the characters begin to reap what they have sown, our sympathy for them begins to flag. The crime is not that we see human beings being ugly, but that our early hopes for them are extinguished by the film's end in a numbing series of various defeats. In Sam Raimi's largely-overlooked "A Simple Plan," avarice and deceit resulted in tragedy and loss- the moral lesson was clear. In "Being John Malkovich," the filmmakers seem to dole out punishments with complete abandon. Nobody is any wiser for their misfortune. And the film's initially intriguing sexual identity subtext ends up feeling like a sermon on love delivered by characters who have shown themselves to know nothing of it.
Still, "Being John Malkovich" is a provocative and thoughtful work, well-written, well-acted, and well-directed. Though it may not rank as a truly intellectual film, it is unique enough to distinguish itself from its box-office competition. And its Gilliam-esque tone and touches should assure it a place in surrealist comedy-drama history.