One of the best stories of the year

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2005)

...and one of the better films of the year.
This review could (though doubtful) contain spoilers.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is just a very good...I had planned on renting this one since it came out on DVD last year, but finally got around to watching it now, and this movie definitely doesn't disappoint. I knew this was supposed to be a very good movie, but from the trailers and the limited number of reviews I'd read, I really wasn't sure what the movie was exactly about. But the trip through Jim Carrey's (Joel) mind while he has his memories erased is filled with some of the most inventive and enjoyable sequences of any new movies I've seen in a long time. Sometimes sad, sometimes happy, but always inciting in you some sort of emotion, these surreal sequences are fun to watch but also insightful and thought-provoking.
This movie really isn't really a comedy in the sense that most people think, but has some very sweet elements mixed in with the sad and thoughtful scenes that make you sympathize with the characters...
I had given this an 8/10, but I really feel that it is around 8.5/10, so I've bumped my rating up to 9, because this movie really does deserve its place on the top 250...and though this is no great character study such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Patton, and others like those, this really is a thoroughly enjoyable story with great insightful characters that one can really sympathize with and identify with.