Weirder than Crispin Glover's first record

Rating: 8/10 (24 March 2000)

Warning: Leave your brain at the door for this one.
Those of you who have a copy of Crispin Glover's 1989 album "The Big Problem, is approximately equal to The Solution. The Solution=Let it Be," or are even remotely familiar with it, know that it was the weirdest record ever made, and for at least ten years, nobody could imagine anyone from Hollywood coming out with something as weird as this. Then came the movie "Being John Malkovich," which along with "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective(1994)," "El Mariachi(1992)," and "Welcome to the Dollhouse(1995)," should be listed in Citadel Press's Films of the Nineties book(See my comment on "Ace Ventura:Pet Detective" for this reference).
Upon seeing this film, it's expected that many would ask; Why did they choose John Malkovich? Couldn't they have chosen some other 'scary celebrity,' like Christopher Walken, Anthony James, Richard Lynch, John Saxon, Dennis Hopper, or even Crispin Glover? Was Mickey Rourke throwing too many punches on the set? Did John Lithgow mellow out after "3rd Rock from the Sun?" But then you realize, that if they were chosen, the same questions would be asked, and you'd get back to enjoying the film as it is. Like many, I didn't recognize Cameron Diaz at first. I originally thought the female lead was Kyra Sedgwick, until I saw an announcer on Entertainment Tonight put this notion away for me.

All in all, this is just an elaborate version of those public service announcements that we saw as kids, trying to tell us to be ourselves, instead of somebody we're not. But it's still worth seeing. Looney as it may be, it deserves an Oscar, not in spite of it's weirdness, but because of it.