Kaufman bends our minds yet again as Carrey and Winslet get brainwashed.

Rating: Null/10 (25 May 2004)

Rating: **** (out of *****)
Once again, Charlie Kaufman is taking us inside someone's brain. True, he has already done that in two of his most famous screenplays, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Yet, incredibly, he has managed to make his latest situation feel inventive and fresh, and the result has been the usual critical praise...although in my opinion the film may be slightly overrated. To me, Kaufman has never been able to really hide his smugness in his screenplays. But under director Michel Gondry (best known to me for that innovative "White Stripes in Lego" music video) he keeps this aspect of himself quieter than usual.
The plot seems simple enough. Joel Barrish (Jim Carrey) meets Clementine (Kate Winslet, again convincingly hiding the fact that she's British), falls in love and has a long-term relationship with her. Once day, however, he finds that she has gone through a process to erase every memory of their relationship from her brain. Shocked, he consults the doctor behind this process (Tom Wilkinson) and decides to go through it himself, but while it is happening to him, he discovers that he doesn't really want her to leave his mind after all.
If you think this makes the film sound a little simplistic, don't be fooled. I'm just not revealing very much. Like Being John Malkovich before it, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind plays mind games with its audience, twisting and turning the complex screenplay so much that it's easy to get lost. Stay in there, though, and you will really appreciate the experience. You'll also find some really good jokes.
Yet you do feel that there could be something more to this film than there is. The one significant problem with Eternal Sunshine is the lack of real involvement with the characters. I wonder if this the result of Kaufman and Gondry concentrating too much on the story itself  they do a great job there, no doubt about it, but I think that the film needs just a little bit more character depth for me to call it excellent.
That is no fault of the actors. In fact, this is an actors' film. Jim Carrey continues to show his strengths as a serious actor, and has a good chemistry with Kate Winslet. Even though Winslet is forced to act slightly out of character here  to put it bluntly, Clementine seems excessively eccentric  she does so admirably. The supporting cast, which includes Tom Wilkinson, Elijah Wood (now free from having to carry the One Ring) and Kirsten Dunst, play it deadpan throughout, which is essential to the success of the film.

I may have my reservations, but I'm still highly recommending this. Eternal Sunshine fits in nicely with the really good films that are surfacing during the spring and summer months to date.