Can You Figure It Out?

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2004)

So what happens when you mix Carrey with Screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann, one of the few offbeat writers that continues to get work done in the Hollywood system? ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF A SPOTLESS MIND is what you get. The film tells the story of Joel (Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet). Two lovers who are torn apart and yet drawn together by tattered memories. You see an enterprising doctor named Howard (Tom Wilkenson) has created a medical process in which people can be removed from your memory ultimately removing them from your life. It seems Clemintine has already undergone this process and so Joel does the same thing. That is until he realizes our memories make us and it might regret losing them.
I sometimes wonder what the early pioneer's of film would think of what it has become today. Like any great media it's had its hurdles of technical innovation to jump through. Would they like what they saw or would they be like the old man who sat behind me at ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND? He hated it, for all the wrong reasons.
So do we make memories or do memories make us? That is the basic premise of the story. We watch with frantic hope to grasp the story as it runs through Joel's mind. It's told in a style that is far from linear, jumping from moment to moment without much time to breathe. Like some bizarre `Alice in Wonderland' adventure. I kept hoping to see the Cheshire Cat's grim jump into the frame. Sometimes the film gets a little crazy and yet the movie is strangely engrossing. That is if you let it.
So what happens when you mix Carrey with Screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann, one of the few offbeat writers that continues to get work done in the Hollywood system? ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF A SPOTLESS MIND is what you get. The film tells the story of Joel (Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet). Two lovers who are torn apart and yet drawn together by tattered memories. You see an enterprising doctor named Howard (Tom Wilkenson) has created a medical process in which people can be removed from your memory ultimately removing them from your life. It seems Clemintine has already undergone this process and so Joel does the same thing. That is until he realizes our memories make us and it might regret losing them.
SUNSHINE is a thinking man's movie. It doesn't allow you to simply watch it; you have to analyze it. You have to engage your eyes and brain and put pieces together. Half the fun of this film is interpretation. If you can't you'll hate it. I mean if you walk into this movie with hopes of BRUCE ALMIGHTY you'll probably feel as gypped as those Adam Sandler fans that laid out money for PUNCHDRUNK LOVE.
That being said the film does overstay it's welcome especially after it weaves in subplots involving Kiresten Dunst and Elijah Wood. I understand their inclusion in the film I just wished they didn't feel so curt. They sort of reemphasize points that's are already made by Joel and Clemintine in far more effective ways. They steal from the self-discovery of the hero, and thus knock the movie down pegs it really didn't have to.
So will you like ETERNAL SUNSHINE? If you're in for an inventive trip with lots of suppress, and you also like to discuss the nature of philosophy and it's effect on man, absolutely. If not I check something a little lighter
I think a casual movie-goer is used to seeing a name like Julia Roberts or Adam Sandler and knowing exactly what to expect from them. Jim Carrey on the other hand keeps throwing us all for a loop. He's an actor whose climbed and fought his way to the top because he has the ability to be himself in any role, and yet at the same time engross his audience into believing he's not really there. With the right director Jim Carrey can shine, even if the material is weak. He shines in this film even if it doesn't quite match up.