Average and slightly trashy 'pop art' fest that feels shallow but 'nice'.

Rating: 4/10 (15 May 2005)

*Very small Spoiler section at foot of page*
Nice. That is the word I would use to describe this film, however it would have been 'nice' if this movie had been a 15 minute short but sadly the director decided it would be much better to make a 2 hour feature out of 15 minutes worth of material and fill in the blanks with a whole lot of 'nice'. The end product, quite frankly, is something that could result in a hangover. I can't stress enough how good and deep this film *could* have been. This film is half decent but it is not really all that smart or intelligent, in fact this movie is pretty much the epitome of dim and the humour here is fairly slapstick. That's maybe what lessened the impact for me, this was supposedly really though provoking, nope this is a fairly average 'chick flick'/romantic drama masquerading as intelligent art-house fare with a sci-fi twist, unfortunately quoting some poetry does not equate to intelligent. I appreciate the noble intentions and admit it had a refreshing feel good factor about it but unfortunately the sunshine really struggled to shine through Kuafman and Gondry's pretentious, patronizing and often tedious script. Some of the dialog left my intelligence feeling rather insulted, as did the film as a whole.
With that out of the way I still felt this film was not really great on an entertainment level either. It's like a home movie, I don't just mean the shaky camera work but this is basically a selection of sentimental moments from 2 lover's relationship with a few childhood memories thrown in for good measure. I'm not against sentimental, in fact I sometimes enjoy it especially in something like Old Yeller for example, as long as it's not over done in 'grown up' films, like it is here. People who are very sentimental and who enjoy romantic comedies would enjoy this film the most. However if you have an aversion for over the top sentimentality, eccentric behavior and (especially deserving of a 'warning' label) stoned student types spouting poetry then you will probably want to be euthanized after watching this film! This is the tale of 2 lovers , Clementine and Joel (played adequately by Winslet and Carrey) who break up after a silly argument, Clem's hasty reaction to this is to permanently erase Joel from her memory via a revolutionary new technique. Upon finding out, Joel gets the same treatment as revenge but then has a change of heart mid erasing and attempts to salvage his memories of their relationship by hiding Clem in various recollections from his past. Where this film was lost on me I feel is that I found the lead characters completely unlikeable, the thought of meeting such people sends shivers down my spine never mind taking a look at their lives and relationships. Clem is one of the most irritating characters I have seen in a long while, she's a 30 something student/hippie type who loves to changes her hair colour with her mood and loves a good emotional outburst for no good reason every now and then. Kaufman seems to think that making her eccentric will somehow transform her from shallow, immature and moody to likable and deep. No, no, NO! Then Joel is almost as bad, he too is a tad immature and he is a complete, hopeless loser. The other characters involved are even more hideous so I won't even dare go into details.
The whole message, which will largely depend on what the viewer extracts from the film, is roughly dispensed through some elementary ideas and clichÃ©s - love is irrational and makes us do irrational things and 'love at first sight'. The film also asks important questions relating to what memories mean to us and how they affect who we are, and if we could erase them would we make the same mistakes again. The whole topic of being able to erase memories is a very deep one, while the film delves into a very important and emotive aspect of the human condition via the concept it ignores a whole barrel load of possible directions to take the plot, deciding instead to concentrate almost solely on the leads relationship resulting in a very linear, slightly shallow experience. The plot also seems to stall with regularity, perhaps as a byproduct of having limited room to expand, it just plods and stutters along seemingly forever.
*Spoilers* The film is very surreal at times and it is in the hazy insights into Joel's memories that the film achieves it's few high points, we get glimpses of mildly traumatic childhood experiences and most importantly the first meeting with Clem. It is upon the parting of Joel and his memories of Clementine that the film peaks, when he concedes his quest to salvage the situation is futile and decides to simply enjoy what little time he has with his last recollections of her and the time they spent together. That sequence is pretty touching and *almost* manages to make the film feel worth while. However it was not enough to rescue the whole experience for me as I had already developed a feeling of mild nausea before that point. The film was a bit pop arty at times but there were some lovely images featuring dream like sunsets and street parades and the director did create a unique atmosphere, I give him credit for that at least. Overall a disappointment, not a complete disaster but I can't help but feel this was an opportunity somewhat squandered. I did not really feel the impact I felt the film tried to deliver as I could not find it in me to empathize with the two leads, but I did appreciate the messages they were attempting to deliver.