Just What I Needed

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 2005)

Tonight I was in the mood for a comedy. I thought I could use a laugh or three after the weekend that I have endured. So I decided on a Jim Carrey flick. Carrey never fails to bring joy so I loaded up Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Don't worry if you haven't seen it, no spoilers here.
The first few minutes of the film roll along with perhaps a slight chuckle here and there, not really though. I'm thinking "Great, artsy fartsy." Which normally would be fine, but not tonight, tonight I need a laugh. I was wrong. I needed this. Don't get me wrong, there are some very funny parts. But not haha funny. Dark funny. Funny that makes you realize that you are not the only one who does that, or thinks that way. Funny that when you laugh at it, you feel slightly uncomfortable, but you laugh anyway. Watch it alone the first time.
You will figure out the ending about in the middle, but I think they want you to. It's not about what you know. It's about how it makes you feel. I guess everyone has felt what these characters feel. But everyone, you and the characters as well, have felt them differently. Just about every thing they take away from the characters has been taken away from me in some way, and probably you as well . What they give the characters back, that is what I needed. Even if it is only fantasy, it is still something that I never thought of. Perhaps the next time I find myself in one of those, "I could die happy now" situations, I will try to hold on to it. I won't take it for granted and....forget.
Remember. That is the moral to this story. Remember.
I highly recommend this film.
Jerry