Witty, clever and slightly dark.

Rating: Null/10 (22 May 2004)

Familiar "What is real and what is not? Are we looking at reality or self-referential inspection?" territory from Charlie Kaufman. Adaptation did this switchback brilliantly, but "Eternal Sunshine" only just fails to scale such heights.
Having got that off my chest I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a "thinking feel-good" movie
I always found Jim Carrey extremely talented but that he had been shoe-horned into various face-contorting roles. Small diversion here. I first watched the Truman Show, having missed the first 5 minutes set-up. The "set-up" gives away the whole film at the start. Hence, through the film I was discovering the constructed reality along with Truman - creepy and clever. Point of this diversion, I really rate Carrey's ability to portray slightly confused, slightly "disconnected" characters who are just waiting to burst out of their self-create prisons. This technique serves Carrey ably in "Eternal Sunshine". He is able to hold the twists and turns of plot and time so I traveled a fine balance between confusion and clarity. Which, to me, is one of the themes of the film.
Mark Ruffalo is a complete revelation as the nerdy Stan; I forgot his muscular performance in "In the Cut" with Meg Ryan.
Kate Winslet is believably spontaneous as Clementine.
Strong performances too from Tom Wilkinson, and Kirsten Dunst.