Over-rated and Artificial

Rating: 7/10 (5 November 2004)

I sincerely do not understand what the buzz about this film is about. Charlie Kaufman's story is based upon the idea of erasing memory and the way it affects relationship and love. For science-fiction fans the idea of memory manipulation is not that original at all. Recently the 'Bounty' series or 'Paycheck' brought it to the big screen, and did it in a more attractive way, leading to good action films. The relationship story in 'Eternal Sunshine...' is rather banal, and even Kaufman could not resist to a quite routine ending. A lot of screen time is spent into simulating the effect of memory erasing, but I found much of it not-inspired and artificial. Jim Carrey is mis-casted, he wears a monkey grimace much of the film that let me ask how he could raise the emotional interest of Kate Winslet. Kate is better than Jim, while Elijah Wood and Kirsten Dunst do good supporting roles. Overall, I did not find the film too interesting, it's just fair entertainment that tries but does not succeed to be something else. I cannot share the enthusiasm of many other viewers about it, and gave it a 7 out of 10 on my personal scale.