If you can ignore a big flaw, an enjoyable ride.

Rating: 8/10 (14 November 2002)

In the beginning of the film, when I learned that Leonard (Guy Pearce) had no short term memory since his accident and wife's murder, I accepted it easily. But then I got to thinking, assuming he was told about his memory loss after the accident, how could he remember that he had this problem? To me, that flaw could derail the film but like Alfred Hitchcock's MacGuffin, I just let it go. The reason for the film's success is that by telling the story backwards, we are just like Leonard, we learn everything when he does and there is no way for us to piece things together. This makes it practically impossible to figure things out. In "The Lady in the Lake", director Robert Montgomery tried to make the audience feel like the main character, Philip Marlowe, by showing everything from Marlowe's point of view. It didn't work mainly because it was too weird to have everyone in the movie treating the audience like a character. "Memento" succeeds where Montgomery failed. As for the acting, Pearce plays Leonard a little too intense, probably the way someone would really act but at times too much for the screen. Carrie-Anne Moss does nothing to distinguish herself and her berating of Leonard was embarrassing to watch. Joe Pantoliano as the mysterious Teddy, has his best performance to date. A film that will definitely make you think. What would you do?