I have a new favorite movie of all time

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2004)

This movie is directed by Michel Gondry, who is one of the most artistic and beautiful minds of our time. The script was written by Charlie Kaufman, who wrote two of the most interesting and talked about movies of the last few years, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. I will say now that I'm the kind of viewer who likes to be confused and unsettled, yet if you are not, please don't let that stop you from seeing this film. To compare and contrast, "50 First Dates" this is not. The ins and outs of this relationship is very real, and nothing is compromised to make it a very strange trip. There are no dick or fart jokes to make sure you're still watching, although there is a lot of situational humor that should keep you smiling. Despite how weird this movie is, it will change the way you look at your current relationship, or if you aren't in one, it will make you want to go out and look for the girl of your dreams. It can be a very effective date movie, but I saw it alone in a theatre besides two of my best friends, and it felt as if it was just for us. I walked out of the theatre with a huge smile on my face, like the world was in a new light.
To me, this is all film should be. A way to experience something you can't experience otherwise; a trip inside someone's head. "Being John Malkovich" did this somewhat, but the details of the romance the pair in the movie had make this movie ten times as intimate and heartfelt. Amongst the sea of "realistic" and brutal films like "The Passion of the Christ" (which in comparison just left me feeling sore afterwards) it's nice to have a surreal movie like this to take me out of my life for just a few minutes. While the effects of this movie are pretty fantastical, they never seem synthetic like most CGI-generated effects. After all, this is the guy who meticulously made a White Stripes music video entirely out of still shots of legos; which could have been done with CGI... but where's the fun in that? Like has been said before, Michel Gondry will do whatever it takes, no matter how big or small, to make what needs to happen come to life onscreen. And this film, as you will see, was a pretty exhaustive effort. To note another music video director that went feature-film, Tarsem Singh's movie "The Cell" maintained the beautiful atmospheric shots of his video work, yet there wasn't enough underneath to make it a truly great film. I believe this film to be the best of both worlds, and can't wait for Charlie Kaufman's next script.
I wish I knew whatever is holding you, the reader, back from seeing this film, so I could shoot it down. This is one of Jim Carrey's best performances yet ("The Truman Show" was just warming up) and I plan on seeing it again and again. If at any point you feel confused, then maybe that's a good thing, who wants to know every little thing about what's happening and be able to predict the ending? Just take it all in, and by all means, watch it more than once! I plan on it... because this has fulfilled everything I could want from a movie, and just might make it my new favorite movie of all time.