Brilliantly Original and Wonderfully Magical

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2006)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the most well written movie since Pulp Fiction, and the best movie since the turn of the century. It's originality is unprecedented, putting screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation) up there with the greats. And every time you watch it, you will gain a new understanding of the characters and story.
Just imagine, instead of dealing with the pain and suffering of your past, you can erase people and moments from your memory, and move on with your life, without giving it another thought. Imagine your bad relationships can disappear. You bad experiences obliterated. Your bad times gone. Dr. Howard Mierzwiak makes this all possible.
Meet Joel Barish (Carrey), an archetypal lost American, a passive soul wandering through his own life in a cloud of dissatisfaction. One day, his shyness and antisocial tendencies led him to meet the free spirit Clementine (Winslet), changing his life forever.
They break up, and Clementine impulsively decides to "erase" Joel from her memory. Joel, upon hearing this, also signs up for the procedure. But midway through, he changes his mind. Then the chase begins, as Joel and Clementine try to outrun the erasers, hiding in his childhood and humiliation.
Meanwhile, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, and Mark Ruffalo, the ones performing the procedure on Joel, have their own troubles with romance, memory erasure, and Clementine, all due to the procedure offered by Dr. Mierzwiak.
Although Carrey spends most of the movie in an induced coma, his outstanding performance proves to us that his talents go far beyond his Ace Ventura days. And Winslet's spectacular performance didn't go unnoticed either, earning her another Oscar nod.
To say the least, Eternal Sunshine will change your life. Kaufman shows us that you must take the good along with the bad, because if you forget, you are destined to repeat your mistakes. Joel doesn't realize he made a mistake until he gets past their bad moments, and remembers all the good times he and Clementine had together. This movie gives a new meaning to "You never know what you've got until it's gone."
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a brilliant work of originality. With all the crap Hollywood has been turning out in recent years, this will feel like a blast of fresh air. Kaufman's masterpiece is inspirational, and, unlike most Hollywood films, makes you think. It'll make you realize that at the end of the day, our memories are all we really have, and when they're gone, we're gone.