Being John Malkovich

Plot synopsis:
Craig Schwartz (Cusack) is an unemployed puppeteer in a forlorn marriage with his pet-obsessed wife Lotte (Diaz). Gaining a file clerk job through Dr. Lester (Bean) at LesterCorp, in the strange Floor 7½ low-ceiling offices of the Mertin-Flemmer Building in New York City, he develops an attraction to his coworker Maxine Lund (Keener), who does not return his affections. Craig enters a small door hidden behind a filing cabinet and finds himself in the mind of actor John Malkovich. Craig is able to observe and sense whatever Malkovich does for fifteen minutes before he is ejected and dropped into a ditch near the New Jersey Turnpike. He reveals the portal to Maxine and they let others use it for $200 a turn.
Craig tells Lotte, who becomes obsessed with the experience, allowing her to live out her transgender desires. Lotte becomes attracted to Maxine and they begin a sexual relationship via Lotte being inside Malkovich's head while Maxine has sex with Malkovich. Craig, forsaken by both women, binds and gags Lotte and locks her in a cage, then enters Malkovich's mind and has sex with Maxine. Craig discovers that he is able to control Malkovich's actions while in his head, causing the actor to become paranoid. After consulting with his friend Charlie Sheen, Malkovich trails Maxine to the Mertin-Flemmer building, where he tries the portal and is placed in a world where everyone looks like him and can only say "Malkovich". He is ejected and meets Craig by the turnpike. Malkovich demands that the portal be closed, but Craig refuses.
Lotte escapes with the help of the animals in the cage and phones Maxine, revealing that Craig was having sex with her. Maxine is annoyed but accepts it as she enjoyed the experience. Seeking help, Lotte finds Lester, who reveals himself to be Captain Mertin, the creator of LesterCorp. He is aware of the portal and has a room dedicated to Malkovich. Lester explains that the person connected to it becomes "ripe" for occupation on the eve of their 44th birthday. However, after the old host turns 44, the portal moves to its next host, an unborn child. The former allows one to increase their life before moving on to another host while the latter means being trapped within the unborn child. Lester, who has been using the portal to prolong his life, reveals his plan to use Malkovich for himself and several of his friends. Offered the chance to join Lester's group, Lotte warns him that Craig has control.
Craig finds he is able to remain in Malkovich indefinitely. He spends the next eight months in Malkovich's body, and through his control turns Malkovich into a world-famous puppeteer. Malkovich marries Maxine and learns that she is pregnant as their relationship grows distant. As Malkovich's 44th birthday approaches, Lester and his friends cut a deal with Maxine and fake her kidnapping. They call up Craig threatening to kill her if Craig does not leave Malkovich. Craig ends the call, causing Lester to think that he called their bluff. Lotte loses hope and attempts to kill Maxine, but they end up at the turnpike after falling through the portal and Malkovich's shame-ridden subconscious. Maxine reveals that she conceived when Lotte was inside Malkovich's body and kept the child because it is theirs. The revelation cements their love for each other.
Craig calls back Lester thinking Maxine is still in danger. Realizing his opportunity, Lester continues his bluff, convincing Craig to leave Malkovich's body. Lester and his friends enter the portal, taking control of Malkovich. Craig, discovering that Lotte and Maxine are together again, decides to enter the portal to become Malkovich and regain Maxine. Years later, an aging Malkovich, under the collective mind of Lester and his friends, reveals to Sheen a plan to prolong their lives through Maxine's daughter Emily, within whom Craig is now permanently trapped after entering the portal, powerless as he watches Maxine and Lotte living happily through Emily's eyes.

Tags: dark, fantasy, comedy, psychological, whimsical, dramatic, cult, thought-provoking, magical realism, absurd, psychedelic, satire, plot twist, queer

Review:
'Being John Malkovich' pushes the limits of storytelling; this wildly imaginative film shows that even the most surreal storyline can still be made entertaining if a filmmaker doesn't care about conventions and knows just what the medium is capable of.
He is most definitely not being himself in front of the camera, but instead creates this wonderful character of John Malkovich the vessel.I've admired Spike Jonez's work for a good long time, and I'm pleased to say that in his first full length feature as a director, he succeeds with flying colors in creating an original, beautiful, humorous, and good natured picture.See Being John Malkovich, because come Oscar time, you're going to want to know why its winning!.
The movie develops quickly, plummetting viewers into the warped world it creates; while the surroundings are strange, they are presented without leaving the audience convinced and I found that my questions about Malkovich's mysterious portal, such as "What happens if John Malkovich goes into his own portal?", were answered.The directoral work in John Malkovich is quite interested at times as well.
Being John Malkovich (1999), the Spike Jonze's directorial debut, is an amazing film - hip, inventive, delightfully weird, incredibly funny and disturbingly serious with the gleefully absurd plot twists.
Let's face it, that was a stroke of genius - to throw together the tragic medieval lovers, Abelard and Heloise in the street show created by a talented puppeteer Craig Scwartzh (John Cusack) with the nimble fingers but out of work in "today's wintry economic climate", Elijah the Chimp with the mental problems that go back to his childhood, the surreal office that is located on the 7 1/2 store of a New York City office building and a floor is four feet high.
Add Cameron Diaz (Craig's animals loving wife Lotte), completely unrecognizable, aging and balding Charlie Sheen, cynical and practical Maxine (Catherine Keener), who had an unique experience of having two people looked at her "with complete lust and devotion, through the same pair of eyes", and send them all to the wild ride inside the famous and respectable actor John Malkovich's brain to see what he sees and to feel what he feels, to the trip that would last 15 minutes and end up in a ditch on the side of New Jersey Turnpike.
"Being John Malkovich" is a fascinating and truly original film which I love and always enjoy watching even if there were never a connection with any of its characters (with the exception of Abelard and Heloise and Elijah the Chimp)..
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999) ****Starring: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Orson Bean, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, and Charlie Sheen Director: Spike Jonze   Running Time: 113 minutes   Rated R (for sexuality and language)By Blake French:It is not every day that I use words in my movie reviews such as unique, creative, inventive, imaginative, original, fresh, mesmerizing, and unmatched.
After Craig explores this deep miniature, seemingly endless hallway, he discovers this secret door leads to the brain of actor John Malkovich for fifteen minutes, then spits you out along the roadside afterwards.Wow, sounds like "Alice in Wonderland," doesn't it...well, sort of.
He has some hard scenes where Craig controls him while inside his mind, which requires great skill to perform.However, better than any performance, and more amazing then any flawless characters or plot, is the concept of a human being thinking up such an absurd idea as the imagination behind the beauty of "Being John Malkovich." With such a penetrating, magical atmosphere to it, it is kind of a shame that the filmmakers created this film in the form of a black comedy instead of something more harrowing.
But I will say that "Being John Malkovich" might not overtake the box office, but for appreciative movie patrons, this one is sure to be treasured for a long time to come.Brought to you by Gramercy Pictures..
Some people find out in the highly imaginative `Being John Malkovich,' directed with style by Spike Jonze, and starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener and John Malkovich.
Immediately, she sees money in the prospect of having a portal into the mind of John Malkovich, and she convinces Craig that they should start a business:  `J.M. Inc.'  For two hundred dollars a pop, people can have the experience of a lifetime.Jonze has taken a unique screenplay that is clever, witty, humorous and totally engrossing, and turned it into one of the most ingenious films to come our way in a long, long time.
Maxine is more interested, however, in his wife, Lotte (Diaz, like you've never seen her before) but only when she's being John Malkovich.
Charlie Kaufman has taken an amazingly weird premise and twisted round a suitably offbeat story to create a movie that is as bizarre as it is as it is compelling, and it's definitely a major highlight of American cinema in the 1990's.
Things start to get complicated when Craig's wife, Lottie, becomes involved and it turns out that Craig's not the only one with a crush on Maxine.The usually presentable John Cusack and Cameron Diaz are completely unrecognisable as this film's leading couple and both give career highlight performances.
Though I had liked the few Spike Jonze music videos I've seen(Weezer's "Buddy Holly" and the Beastie Boys one), I was hesitant about whether he could make the jump to movies, for, as we know, for every good MTV raised director(David Fincher), there are several bad ones(Michael Bay).
Every idea pays off in ways you don't expect, all four main actors do well cast against type, and it's awfully hard to pick who's the best(though I suspect John Malkovich will be remembered at Oscar time), the dialogue is great("Don't stand in the way of my actualization as a man!" may be the best line of the year), and I can't think of another way to describe this except go see it now..
The film is rich with great performances, it is directed very well by a new comer, it is a wonderfully original idea and seeing John Malcovich have the guts to portray himself, or to parody himself is quite amazing.
It's incredibly strange and surreal, and some people like that, but even if one does, I can't imagine how one would not be bored out of one's skull by this intellect-impoverished movie.The story starts out with a struggling puppeteer, who gets an office job.
There's very little reason to keep watching, and I spent most of the time eyeballing the clock and hoping for it to be over.If you like strange, weird movies with no plot, not much character development, and no explanation of what is happening or why, and where almost nothing happens through the whole movie, then you'd probably like Being John Malkovich.
Scuzzy puppeteer John Cusack and snide co-worker Catherine Keener discover a portal into the mind of actor John Malkovich (playing himself) in their bizarre office and decide to profit from it.
Strong reviews, a great cast, and an interesting premise made me rent this movie; an un-funny, demented, and just plain bad film made me wish I had never been born.
Yup, it was THAT bad.I've probably seen worse movies, but you'd have to give me a day or two to think of one.AVOID BEING JOHN MALKOVICH LIKE IT IS THE PLAGUE and thank me later.
Some scenes were such a cacophony (the chimps in particular) that it suggested the film had been constructed from outtakes.All in all, 'Being John Malkovich' is an incredible waste of a concept and talented actors - a film so unlikeable that it's practically offensive.To all those reviewers that bigged up this dog of a movie -- you wasted an hour of my life - you suck!.
All the cast put in a good performance and I particularly enjoyed John Cusack as I usually do yet I felt cheated by this film.
However, at this point, I must point out something that did touch me in this film, it was Cusack's character (Craig) who's fate was somewhat undeserved and I felt sympathy for him, his act showing that he did indeed love Maxine, and I also found the thought of Malkovich's daughter becoming the next vessel disturbing as, in essence, Lester/Malkovich/etc was stealing somebody's life.
It didn't have that innate cleverness that comes from someone who's original and inventive; it was that labored cleverness that makes you uncomfortable and want to turn away and not watch.The main characters (Craig, Lotte, and Maxine) were all completely repellent.
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who sends up the creative block he experienced after writing the film's script in 2002's "Adaptation", plainly refuses to use any accepted cinematic convention to tell the wildly eccentric story of Craig Schwartz, a downtrodden puppeteer who has a must-be-seen-to-be-believed adventure.
Orson Bean brings out all the eccentricities of Craig's oddly deranged boss, and no one is better cast than Malkovich as a wildly narcissistic version of himself, especially as the plot spins further into a Freudian fantasy of monstrous proportions.This is wildly inventive film-making that may alienate several viewers, but it really should be embraced as the kind of bold experimentation that mainstream Hollywood rarely attempts.
Along with the original theatrical trailer and several TV promotional spots, there are also two played-straight videos, excerpts of which are shown in the film - one the "7 ½ Floor Orientation" and the other the vaunted pseudo-documentary, "American Arts and Culture Presents: John Horatio Malkovich, Dance of Despair and Disillusionment".
A fantasy of sorts about a struggling puppeteer (John Cusack) who takes a job at a strange office where he starts to work with an odd 105-year-old boss (Orson Bean) and a beautiful, but heartless co-worker (Oscar-nominee Catherine Keener).
The film moves along at a comfortable pace, relying more on the somewhat obscure messages embedded in the intriguing plot than on characters, plot-line, action, or intellect.John Cusack plays a control freak whose obsession manifests itself in his choice of an unsuccessful career - as a puppeteer.
The success of this film is probably largely due to its inherent rationality - like Memento, it feels weird and moody, but is really based on a pretty simple, if somewhat silly, concept.By entering a tiny tunnel in an office on the 7.5th floor of an office building where Cusack and keener work, you can become John Malkovich for fifteen minutes.
One or two more good films and I might finally forgive her for "Vanilla Sky".The story is very absurd: a young puppeteer finds a door in his office that goes in side John Malkovich's mind.
John Cusack in a warped role as the odd puppeteer, Cameron Diaz as his pet store working wife, Katherine Keener as the devilish office worker, and as himself in his best role ever, John Malkovich as the only person he could perfectly play- himself.2: The script, which is the most original funny and odd one in years to come around.
A truly original example of movie making, the concept of the movie is very refreshing and the gags are fresh and funny.Great direction, great cast and overflowing with fresh ideas, this film is a breath of fresh air.There is a problem though, it is certainly not for everyone; it is very weird and is more likely to attain a cult status in movie history than it is to become a true classic.That said, i did enjoy it immensely, and would recommend it to every movie lover who fancies something a little different.Try it, you might like it, and if you don't, what have you lost?
Everyone is Searching for Who They Are and Who They Want to Be. What makes Being John Malkovich provoke so deeply is that it is not simply an oddball flight of fancy but an exploration of Charlie Kaufman's deeply realized questions and thoughts explored through the story.
Charlie Kaufman's imaginative, Oscar-worthy screenplay centers around an unemployed puppeteer named Craig (John Cusack, in a delightfully unhinged turn), who gets a job as a file clerk at a company called Lestercorp, which is lodged between the 7th and 8th floors of an office building.
Craig discovers a hole in the wall of his office which turns out to be a portal into the mind of actor John Malkovich, which allows those who enter to view the world from Malkovich's mind for 15 minutes, at which time they are then deposited at the side of the road on the New Jersey Turnpike.
Cusack receives solid support from Catherine Keener, smart and vivacious in her Oscar-nominated turn as Maxine, Craig's partner-in-crime with whom he falls in love, Cameron Diaz as Craig's dizzy wife, Lottie, and, of course,Malkovich himself, who deserves major kudos for allowing us to laugh along with him, at himself and his image.
I was curious to watch this movie since I read its plot synopsis, but I never thought it would be so good, I mean, this film is great!
If it's so, just let it be, because I don't care if the title is "Being John Malkovich" or "Being Cameron Diaz" or even "Being the Pope" (!); what really matters here is the movie's concept, its original idea and its message to the viewer!
(I can remember that scene when Lotte, Cameron Diaz's character says: "I think it's kind of sexy that John Malkovich has a portal, you know, it's sort like he has a vagina!
But if the first part of the movie is completely strange and out of any logic, the second part start giving us some answers, a bit crazy too, but at least with a little logic The performances of the four main actors are great too: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine keener and John Malkovich did excellent acting.This film was really refreshing and innovative.
John Cusack plays Craig Schwartz, a puppeteer, who discovers a hidden door in his office.That door leads into the head of actor John Malkovich and you can stay there for 15 minutes.Being John Malkovich (1999) is, could I say slightly eccentric movie.And that's why it's so darn good.Spike Jonze directed and Charlie Kaufman wrote it.How can you go wrong with this couple?
Movies are too much the same old, same old these days, so it's refreshing to see a movie that is far from that.The casting is excellent.John Cusack, this now forty year old actor, does excellent job in the lead.His acting is never bad.Cameron Diaz is fabulous as Lotte.Catherine Keener does great job as Maxine.Charlie Sheen makes a visit as Charlie.Sean Penn and Brad Pitt pop in as themselves.Then there's of course John Malkovich playing John Horatio Malkovich.I wonder what they would have done if John hadn't accepted the part.Maybe the title would have been Being...something, something.
Spike Jonze's wittily-written, incredibly acted comedy drama about a disgruntled but ambitious puppeteer who to his amazement finds a peculiar, mystical portal into the mind of John Malkovich, is a brilliantly surreal and mind boggling experience.
Cusack plays a creatively frustrated puppeteer who must take a desk job to make ends meet and subsequently discovers a secret portal into the mind's-eye of John Malkovich between two floors in the building in which he works.
I love watching original films but,on our days,it's very weird to see an original movie.Being John Malkovich is a very original movie.The movie always surprises with original and unexpected things and it's impossible to predict it.The performances are great but my favorite ones are Catherine Keener's and Cameron Diaz's.Diaz is a nice woman and here,she appears ugly and that transformation helps to her character.Being John Malkovich is a weird experience on actual movies:an original experience.I totally recommend this movie if you wanna see something fresh and new.Rating:9.
The movie just moved along with people having random ideas and somehow tying it all up with entering into John Malkovich's head.Hippie-looking puppeteers, transsexuals, midgets working between floors of an office building, and people living inside people?What's the point?.
Now whenever I watch "Something About Mary" (not a GREAT film, but fairly good) I can't stop thinking about her role in this lousy movie.
I thought it might not live up to my expectations, due to the fact that I absolutely love the actor John Malkovich, I was afraid that this film might damage his name for me.
Craig one day finds a portal that leads to the mind of actor John Malkovich and exploits it with Maxine.
The dirty old man is Orson Bean, who illustrates once again that the older actors weren't exactly much more pure than today's; they just language restrictions.I thought the movie was interesting until Diaz takes a trip into Malkovich's head, then the film gets extremely annoying dialog-wise.
It may have very well been the coolest movie of 1999, and it certainly affirmed John Malkovich as one of the great actors of our time..
Granted "Being John Malkovich" is imaginative in exploring the idea of being someone else but, I did not think the movie was entertaining at all.
John Cusack plays an unsuccessful yet passionate Puppeteer lives with his wife, played by Cameron Diaz.The story takes a strange turn when he finds a job at the Lester's.
It has a wonderful cast, with great performances by John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, Orson Bean, and John Malkovich.
It certainly does not sound good on paper, two co-workers discover a portal to the mind of John Malkovich in their office building, but everything in it really works, the story will warp your mind in a way that you will enjoy.
The cast is outstanding and are well able to handle the film's weirdness, John Cusack and Cameron Diaz deliver one of the best performances of their careers as two damaged soles, with an obsession with Catherine Keener, a mean, manipulative, deceiving woman you can not help but love.
That's a question that you've probably never thought of but wish you did after seeing one of the best films of the 20th century, Being John Malkovich.
John Malkovich plays himself in this film & his performance among the cast was the bravest & most impressive.