Rating: 
Summary: Awsome movie!
Review: Being John Malkovich is a strange little movie that raises the fundemental question: How would it feel to live the life of another person for even 15 minutes. The answer in this case is that it becomes intoxicating and one becomes dependent on this newly found gateway to a different conscious/state of mind.
Rating: 
Summary: A little too wierd
Review: This was a clever story although it did have quite a few slow spots. John Malkovich is great. No doubt about it. And the premise was promising, but there was too much surrealism. There were some very good scenes: Malkovich inside himself, the A&E Biography. But not enough to keep my attention. The DVD had some great extras including some very odd interviews. Not bad overall.
Rating: 
Summary: Eerie but outlandishly brilliant
Review: Outlandish and thoroughly original nuttiness about a washed-up street puppeteer who gets a job in a very strange building and winds up discovering how to enter John Malkovich's mind for 15 minutes at a time. (Loiterers are dumped by the side of the New Jersey Turnpike.) Odd film that veers between all-out insanity and touching human moments without ever seeming forced or unnatural -- although it promises a lot more than it ultimately can deliver. Great cast, esp. Malkovich himself, who does a sly jab at his own icy public persona.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant comedy, marred by excess
Review: For sheer originality, it's hard to beat "Being John Malkovich" as the most outrageously entertaining comedy of 1999. The central gimmick of Charlie Kaufmann's original screenplay is now widely known--a low-spirited puppeteer (John Cusack) discovers a portal leading into the brain of the actor John Malkovich (played by none other than Malkovich himself). It may sound unworkable on paper, but the approach to the storytelling is unique and offbeat enough to overcome the most obvious hurdles.Director Spike Jonze proves himself a true cinematic visionary. Rather than highlighting his story with bright, vivid colors, Jonze adopts a restrained, subtle visual style that that perfectly suits the film's sly, warped identity. "Malkovich" is not an in-your-face comedy, and Jonze's wise choice of murky, underlit camera angles make it clear that all attention belongs on the actors, and on Kaufmann's script. Jonze is just as adept at getting great performances out of his cast. Catherine Keener deservedly won an Oscar nomination for her bitchy Maxine, but Cameron Diaz matches her, moment for moment, in a much less showy and obvious role. Cusack is note-perfect as the squinting puppeteer, and Malkovich, proving himself the best sport in Hollywood by starring in a film that so unabashedly makes fun of his image, gives a brilliant, perfectly timed comic performance. From its odd premise the story builds and builds, tossing in one oddball twist after another with admirable energy. "Being John Malkovich" tweaks its off-the-wall plot for maximum comic effect; what's surprising is the effectiveness with which it subtly eases in a few thought-provoking questions. Even more surprising is the way "Being John Malkovich" examines each of its characters with considerable compassion, when it would be so easy to treat them with contempt. Sure, it's nonsense--only a truly demented farce could find poignancy in a lesbian relationship involving Malkovich as an unwitting sexual go-between--but the film embraces these perverse notions with deadpan conviction. Roger Ebert named "Being John Malkovich" the best film of 1999. It wasn't a bad choice, by any means--the film damn well deserved a Best Picture nomination--but it's hard to ignore the flaws that emerge in the construction toward the very end. The film is successful only so long as it avoids attempting to explain its premise; once "Malkovich" tries to take itself seriously, it derails faster than a speeding train. Kaufmann throws in a lousy subplot involving geriatrics staging a hostile midnight takeover of Malkovich's brain, as well as a chase scene through Malkovich's subconscious that, though clever, borders on the excessive. The last half hour or so is no less entertaining than what came before it, but it's also surprisingly out of place in a film that thrives by being subtle, not by flaunting its inventions. Ebert called the movie "endlessly inventive," and that's as much a handicap as it is a compliment. Here is a movie so drunk on its own cleverness that it doesn't know when to stop; it takes several risks, most of which pay off, but it also takes one risk too many. The result? Almost the best film of 1999.
Rating: 
Summary: Not original/Mildly entertaining
Review: I know I'm in the minority here, but I think this film borrows heavily from the film "All Of Me" Remember that one? Steve Martin & Lilly Tomlin...She 'enters' his body and takes over. Anyway, the best thing about BJM was the puppeteer link, which had it's Spinal Tap moments...Otherwise, I'd rather watch John in a bad guy/humourous role such as Cyrus The Virus in "Con Air"
Rating:
Summary: So What?
Review: 1999 was a really great year for movies and I didn't get to see all the ones I wanted in the theater. So when this one came out on DVD I bought it from trust in the reviews that it was something great. Unfortunately there wasn't much to be seen. I was completely annoyed with John Cusack's preformance and I was never taken in by any of the story's quirkiness. Some genuinely funny moments aside, I am at a loss of words to explain why this movie was not only on ten best lists, but at the top of them as well. I agree with another reviewer here with the phrase "different doesn't mean brilliant". Too often these days leading critics are confusing those two words. While very different, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH was far from brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: generic review
Review: i think the movie was a very good description of what we actually do when we go to a movie. we make concessions (metaphorically going to the 7 1/2 floor) - breaking ourselves away from something else, giving up some of our money, driving through bizarre traffic, dressing up, standing in long lines, driving hurredly back home to get enough rest to go to work the next day,or to relieve the baby sitter, or some other family responsibility,etc.,etc. - all to be somebody else for awhile - maybe somebody famous -an actor, or actress, or the character that the movie is about etc.,etc., only to find that being somebody else does not last. eventually gently, or even sometimes abruptly -as if being dumped along side a franically busy turnpike which has the sound of an empty infinity, and we realize we are not that somebody else, that we are ourselves, and that we must face life, responsibility, etc, just as we are, and just who we are. the actor/ess is be no better off than we are as they fumble through their own lives and at times, for relief, escape from themselves into what they think the fans think the actor/ess is rather than who the actor/ess really is. they too will eventually go through the metaphor of rudely being dumped alongside a busy, seemingly uncaring turnpike. is this an example of truely a small world, with a built-in democratcy? i found this an amazing movie.
Rating:
Summary: An incredibly original movie
Review: This is an extraordinary movie. For a start you have John Cusack and Cameron Diaz looking awful (but acting great) then you have a bizarre storyline (a portal into John Malkovitch's head) and an even wierder premise for an amazing movie. John Cusack, a puppeteer with no work (catch his street play) is married to animal lover Cameron Diaz (how can you make someone so beautiful look so frumpy? They failed in Frankie and Johnny but sure succeeded here). He gets a job in a filing firm situated in between two floor of a building (so everyone has to crouch - low overheads). During his work there he discovers the portal and together with his object of lust (Catherine Keener) they set up a business where at $200 a shot anyone can spend 15 minutes inside John Malkovitch's mind). But of course there is confusion. Cameron Diaz loves Catherine Keener (and in a brilliant scene tells John Cusack she wants surgery to make her a man), so he locks her in an animal cage. There is so much in this movie, a secretary (sorry excutive assistant) with dyslexic hearing, the ickiest pathway into the portal one could imagine and some very wierd lust! However, the prize must go to John Malkovitch for being able to poke fun at himself in such an entertaining way. When Malkovitch himself goes through his own portal you get the highlight of the movie: Malkovitch world. This must be the funniest, craziest scene I have seen in a movie for a long, long time. However, underlying the hilarity is (or could be) a serious message (or maybe I am taking the puppet metaphor too seriously). Nevertheless, this is a must see movie. Spike Jonze (who later starred in Three Kings) has created a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Great Idea --- But...
Review: Quite honestly, it was a letdown. I am a huge Malkovich fan, his acting was awesome. Flawless infact, but the storyline was just a little, well boring. It sounds like a great idea, and it was entertaining, just not nearly to the extent that I thought it would be. The film was over-hyped I think which led to my disappointment. Bottom line, it was a very interesting idea, but lacked...something.
Rating:
Summary: Original, poignant
Review: This movie is so original and bizarre that I found myself mystified by the different twists the movie took. For this year, this movie is in a class by itself. It is worthy of such film noir classics as Suddenly, Last Summer and Sunset Boulevard. All the performances are wonderful, but Cameron Diaz's role as an animal enthusiast particularly stands out.
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