The ending -- Interesting but unsatisfying

Rating: 6/10 (29 April 2001)

***SPOILERS*** I agree with the other comments on this movie that this is an original and fascinating film. Kudos to everybody involved.
However, I found the ending of the film to be intellectually intriguing but ultimately manipulative and unsatisfying. We are lead to believe that the beginning of the film (and ending of the "story") is the culmination of Lenny's search. The man that he did kill may not be the man who truly killed his wife, but we believe that Lenny believes the man to be so. At the end, we find that Lenny has intentionally duped himself.

This ending is intellectually interesting for two reasons: (1) It says something about memory. Without some goal to strive for, Lenny's life is meaningless and made all the more meaningless by his condition. His decision to fool himself shows the lengths that he will go to in order to give his life meaning. (2) The backwards formation of the movie makes us experience what Lenny does. In the end, we are manipulated and handicapped by our "condition," just as Leonard is frequently manipulated and handicapped. As a result, there is a rhyme and reason to this manipulation, as opposed to the manipulation of the Usual Suspects, for example.
However, while the goal of the movie is to cheat us, and while there is a point in cheating us, I nonetheless don't like be cheated! It left me wanting more. Okay, this interesting thing happened, but I was ultimately drawn into the movie by the chase, a chase which was shown to be false. This left me wanting the film to go even farther back. For example, how did Lenny know that the killer was John G?
Also, there are some holes and other unsatisfying elements. Why did Teddy keep helping him? I didn't get a good explanation of that. And Natalie, while suggested to have a significant role in the plot, really does nothing of consequence, besides getting the license plate number for Leonard.
This is a great movie, but a bit too much style. 8/10