Rating: 
Summary: Would You Like To Be Someone Else? Now you Can. . .
Review: For me it was niether spellbinding nor thrilling (until the end) but it was probbaly the most original most inventive film of the year. The fact that a puppeteer found a portal in his work office that leads to John Malkovich's head is just fun. There were some funny segments in the film but nothing to make me burst out like I wanted too. If you're looking for a film that's just pure entertainment then Being John Malkovich is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Original
Review: This is a great movie. If you like complex, convoluted plots with great actors, then this is for you. Funny and original.
Rating: 
Summary: Truly bizarre...
Review: This is an interesting film, and I recommend it to those who enjoy the antics of Monty Python, the egocentric humor of Woody Allen, and/or are John Cusack and John Malkovich fans. Those who like literal tales with "true lovers" may find this film a bit off-putting. Liberated women who like to see men get their just desserts will find this film amusing. Many men will not like this film, my husband did not get it and did not like it. The cast is wonderful, I especially enjoyed Cameron Diaz in a non-glam role as a frowzy, bi-sexual, animal lover. This gal can act, and it's beyond me why she wasn't awarded something for her work. Those who liked the glam Cameron Diaz in "Something about Mary" may be disappointed. John Cusack is...John Cusack and John Malkovich is ...John Malkovich. Both of them are masters of the weird, and this film is weird. I liked the film and I'll probably get it on DVD since it's the kind of film you could watch over and over and see things you hadn't seen the first, second, or third time. It's a somewhat intellectually challenging film (who is really pulling whose strings? ), and a suitable role for Cusack following "Grosse Pointe Blank" and preceding his new film "High Fidelity."
Rating:
Summary: The DVD edition. . .
Review: We all know the movie rocks. If you haven't seen it yet, you're denying yourself a definite pleasure. One of the greatest head trips I've ever been on, fantastic stuff. But the DVD edition goes above and beyond with the extras. It includes all four teaser trailers for the film, a short film about the puppeteer who plays John Cusak's hands, a short film about the extras on the set, an unintentionally hilarious interview with Spike Jonez, the "7 1/2 floor orientation video," and the faux Malkovich biography featured in the film. Oh, and there's one page that has nothing on it. Absolutely nothing. So the excellent movie gets a 5 star DVD. If you've got a DVD player, you need this one.
Rating:
Summary: Ha, not bad....
Review: 4 stars for originality and a chance to see John Malkovich do something a little different. A good rental movie. Although somewhat boring in the beginning, a well made movie and some good performances.
Rating:
Summary: Good and original...
Review: ...but certainly not great. For a film that is as much arthouse as it is mainstream it makes no point at all whatsoever and it comes nowhere near taking advantage of it's wondeerful premise. All we get is a shaggy John Cusack and a bushy Cameron Diaz going head to head over Catherine Keener through John Malkovich. It does has the occasional weird charm but I feel like it could have been so much more. Only a few scenes raised a smile in me. Don't get me wrong. I've never seen a movie that had so much originality to it but I have also never seen a movie that did so little with its ingenius idea. It becomes quite boring and saggy in places. Whenever this happened I just wanted it to go to another scene where they go inside John Malkovich. Also...the ending makes no sense whatsoever. And the writer doesn't even give an explanation for the portal or how it is possible. This may have worked for Groundhog Day but just seems lazy here. As you may have guessed the ending annoyed me very much. I do reccomend you buy this DVD but it should go in your Obscure/Hit-Miss section. The film doesn't have much of anything to classify it as belonging to a certain genre. The DVD is in Dolby 5.1 and is anamorphically enhanced at 1.85:1.
Rating:
Summary: One hell of a movie
Review: Imagine a film that could take you on a journey into the most unexpected places in both reality and fantasy. Nothing seems to be familar, and when it's all over, it's as if you've watched a dream unfold. This is the feeling one gets watching "Being John Malkovich", one of the most startling original films to come out in a long, long time. It's creativity is boundless, it's humour is bracing, and it's depth is sobering. It's hard to think of a film that combines so many diverse elements and still work perfectly, but this one does. This is a modern fable that feels like a game, while it's characters (John Cusask, Cameron Diaz, Cathering Keener and John Malkovich deliver superb performances) are mere puppets hanging on a string, waiting to be in the movement of things. "Being John Malkovich" raises some fascinating issues about the illusion of celebrity, the quest for identity, and the way lust and greed can twist people's live around. You can't help but wonder how some of it's ideas got conceived in the first place, and why they work so well on screen. But if you really want to nit-pick, the film does get too outlandishly serious towards the end, but even this weakness cannot erase it's overall brillance. It is safe to say that director Spike Jonze will be along side Paul Thomas Anderson and David Fincher as the best new film-makers of the 21st century. If you think Hollywood can't produce anything of high quality anymore, seeing "Being John Malkovich" should restore your faith.
Rating:
Summary: Innovative and interesting: a breath of fresh air
Review: "Being John Malkovich" is hilarious and out-of-this-world. All performances are across-the-cast superb, and every scene seethes with creativity and an unbridled energy. Watching it, we can't help but smile and appreciate its fearless invasion of the mind, and its journey into the unconventional. A truly unique film, one that doesn't really amount to anything, though. We walk out of the theatre saying "That was so fun! It's been a while anything this funny came down the pike..." but then we'd say "So what?" Well, for some of us, "so what" is that the movie gave us a breath of fresh air.
Rating:
Summary: Being John Malkovich is a hoot
Review: Almost a great movie. The thing that drops it down a notch is the disturbingly mysoginistic scene where Ms. Diaz gets locked in the monkey cage. The premise is almost too clever by half - who hasn't longed to be someone else, for even a few moments? I know that that is what touched me the most - why cant I be more like him, or more like her, why cant I have this, why cant I have that? Ultimately, the lesson of the movie (in my humble opinion at least) is to appreciate what you have and who you are instead of longing to be someone you are not. The image of the frustrated puppeteer thinking that he finally has become what he truly wants by manipulating the ultimate puppet (another human being and a very successful other human being at that) without realizing that HE is the one who is really being manipulated (by his own unfulfilled longings) is a masterful touch - ironic and, to me, very sad and, very sadly, a very typically human situation.
Rating:
Summary: Clever and imaginative film
Review: This is a clever and imaginative story with a lot of droll and peculiar situations that make for an entertaining film. John Cusack plays Craig Schwartz, a frustrated puppeteer who can't find work. He takes a job as a file clerk and discovers a portal that leads inside John Malkovich's head that allows him to see and experience what Malkovich is doing for 15 minutes until it spits him out on the New Jersey Turnpike. The remainder of the film uses this device to create absurd uses for the portal, from selling tickets to Malkovich to two women having sex using Malkovich's body. Ultimately, the puppeteer discovers how to take over Malkovich and he proceeds to usurp Malkovich's life. In one particularly ingenious scene, Schwartz is manipulating Malkovich to be a puppeteer who has a marionette manipulating yet another smaller marionette. It's a little like Russian matroishka dolls where every time you open one, there is another smaller one inside. If you take it one step further, it was really Maxine who was the master puppeteer, manipulating Schwartz to manipulate Malkovich. This film goes beyond humor of the absurd to humor of the bizarre. At times it gets a bit too far out to be funny (like when Malkovich goes inside Malkovich and sees Malkovich's everywhere). But the material is fresh and innovative and most of the skits work well, silly as they sometimes are. Spike Jonze is a strange guy with a strange sense of humor which is perfect for this film. If you get the DVD, one of the bonus features is an interview with Jonze. If you see this interview, you will get a fuller understanding of just how strange he can be. He does some very interesting things with the camera, lighting and setup that give the film a very distinctive look. This was Jonze first feature film. Clearly his work in music videos, where directors are a lot freer to push the creative envelope, helped in the making of this film. I thought he could have done a better job with the Malkovich perspective (it looked like you were looking backwards through a pair of binoculars), but most of the camera work was quite good. I particularly liked the way he split the sound tracks to have Malkovich's voice come out of the back speakers while in his perspective. The acting in this film was terrific. John Malkovich, who excels in both dramatic and comedic roles did a fabulous job of playing himself, poking fun at himself at every turn. Poor John Cusack. He is such a tall guy and they made him play half his part on a set with 4 ½ foot ceilings. He was very funny as the tortured puppeteer. Catherine Keener was a scream as the bitchy and evil Maxine. Overall, this film is a rollicking good time. I rated it 8/10. It is funny throughout but sometimes goes a little too far off the deep end. If you like absurd humor, you will love this film.
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