good but not brilliant

Rating: 7/10 (28 December 2004)

The fundamental problem with Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind is that, unlike the other films made from Charlie Kaufman's original screenplays - Adaptation, Being John Malkovich - there's really basically only one idea at work here. The acting is excellent (probably the best work that Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet have ever done, and kudos to the great English character actor Tom Wilkinson), the digital effects are great, and the elliptical plot is quite emotionally moving for something so clever, but once you know what's going on (and i'm not going to ruin it by saying what it is) then all you can do is sit back and wait for the Halloweenish funfair ride to finish. The great thing about seeing Being John Malkovich for the first time was the sheer mind-blowing inventiveness of the story, which left you constantly wondering what the hell was going to happen next; and likewise for Adaptation, which was just as original but had even more layers upon layers and circles within circles that Kaufman's laser beam of a brain always managed to refer back to the various disparate threads of the plot(s) without letting the whole thing dissolve into a self-canceling tangled mess. Even though the ideas and the intellect on display in the writing of these films are dazzling in their brilliance they still manage to move your heart as well as your brain, and while Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind will also make you laugh out loud at certain scenes and (possibly) cry in others, it's my opinion that maybe if Spike Jonze - who directed Adaptation and Malkovich - had directed this one as well then he would have pushed Kaufman creatively a bit more, because by halfway through the movie you pretty much know what's going to happen for the rest of it. I did really enjoy it but i'm looking forward even more to the next Charlie Kaufman/Spike Jonze collaboration which is currently in production.