Rating: 
Summary: "Don't stand in the way of my actualization as a man."
Review: Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich" dares to challenge anything that can be remotely labeled as conventional logic and emerges triumphant in its undertaking. Those viewers who have been conditioned to accept only standard narrative fare will find their minds joyfully liberated upon seeing this film. Sometimes experimentation in cinema does indeed work. Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a puppeteer who creates unappealing puppets that turn off the public. His career as a puppeteer is going nowhere so he seeks other employment and soon finds himself working in an office building that has a floor lodged between the seventh and eight floors. Craig then becomes smitten with co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener), but even more attention-grabbing is a doorway he finds behind a file cabinet that leads into the brain of John Malkovich (John Malkovich playing himself). Craig uses the doorway for his own selfish pursuits but eventually his wife, Lotte (Cameron Diaz), Maxine, and Malkovich himself learn of his exploits. A metaphysical battle like you have never seen before then ensues in which the fate of John Malkovich's sanity hangs in the balance. "Being John Malkovich" defies description. This is a film that people just have to see for themselves. A second-hand account of it will not do justice to its eccentric and creative nature. Simply put, "Being John Malkovich" could easily have become a freak-film if it was made by a less-able director, but Jonze manages to keep the entire production afloat from start to finish. Credit must also be given to Cusack, Diaz, Keener, and Malkovich who are all great in their roles. Each of them ably captures the peculiar tone that the premise of the film demands of them. Malkovich is particularly hilarious in a sequence where he discusses his new career as a puppeteer. Now, it must be said that "Being John Malkovich" is not for everyone. One must have a somewhat skewed outlook on the world to appreciate the ideas put forth in this film. If you're willing to check all rational thought at the door and keep an open mind then you will be rewarded with a fascinating and unique viewing experience. One thing is for sure - after watching "Being John Malkovich," you'll never look at a small door behind a file cabinet the same way again.
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbingly amoral; and quirky does NOT equal funny!
Review: This movie is disturbingly, glibly amoral. It's not even immoral; it's Amoral. As in, the person who wrote it may not so much be an immoral person; rather, that the person has no moral compass whatsoever. You tell me which is worse.
The message of these amoral movie-makers: Hey, it's all relative, right?
Setting aside the all-too politically-correct condoning of lesbianism, this movie also condones adultery and spousal abuse (i.e., locking your wife up for hours on end so you can go chase another woman!).
To top it all off, it's not funny. If there were some funny scenes in it, maybe they were left on the cutting room floor or something.
Just because a movie is quirky, does NOT necessarily mean it's funny.
If you want to see a quirky movie which is actually funny as well, go rent Raising Arizona again, and nevermind this colossally overrated stinker.
Rating: 
Summary: Not enough cerebral activity to complement the madness.
Review: Not good at all I was expecting "Being John Malkovich" to be a sort of trippy ride like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" but I must say that I much prefer the later in terms of screen madness and insanity. BJM does stall a lot of the time and there are many dull moments in-between the bouts of lunacy. I certainly prefer the director's latest work "Adaptation" to this vehicle. This film revolves around a puppeteer who manages to find a portal through a door in an office into John Malkovich's head. What a great premise! This boasts of originality through and through. Sounds just like what we need. I was really looking forward to this one. I like little cult items that do things differently. However this is really a very mixed bag. You can tell that a lot of people in this movie are here to help out a friend. Some actors take their role a way more seriously than others. There is a lot of diversity in the quality there. I guess the reason why people went to see this film was to see Hollywood go wacky. It does just that, but is a tad bit embarrassingly executed as if you are watching the actors pour out their hearts on the Jerry Springer show. That is certainly not my kettle of fish. Maybe you will like this and I am sure that there are many people who simply adore this film but that was strike one for me. I do not like that sort of thing because it makes me feel uncomfortable to be honest and I found it hard to enjoy anything after that. I have read other reviewers here who did not like the film because of this either. Strike two for me was the fact that the film's premise is limited to this "nutty" concept. It does not go outside of it much and when it does it can get extremely boring. The relationships in this movie are not fleshed out. When the divergence in acting quality meets up outside of its core theme the movie does falter into the realm of amateur film making. This can be forgiven for the director's newness but it is, frankly, boring. The third Strike came in the form of a dud presentation. This is just NOT THAT WACKY. It does not get much crazy outside of the theme of going into Malkovich's head. A lot of it is simply executed in some way or another to look strange, but it just LOOKS strange and is not that cerebral at all. I expected this film to mess with your mind a bit more but it does not really do that. It just looks wacky but does not execute much intelligence along the way. Ultimately this is a bore. However I will give it Charlie Sheen who saves this movie from one star purgatory. This vehicle is worth seeing for his performance alone. Overall this is "designer mainstream Hollywood wackiness" that can play to all audiences but is certainly devoid of making that extra leap of the consciousness that it pretends to expound on. This is no 2001 or Jacobs Ladder or Lost Highway. This is more akin to a dark version of a Police Squad movie. Not my idea of a wacky film, but a lot of people might like it and this review should not put you off trying it. I just did not like it at all and felt letdown by it all. It certainly does not live up to the hype for me for the reasons I have stated above. IMO, watch "Adaptation" instead.
Rating: 
Summary: One of a kind
Review: This is a strikingly original film that is part science fiction, part love triangle romance, and part comedy with an undercurrent of psychological insight into human relationships, marred slightly by some familiar elements in the resolution. Charlie Kaufman, who wrote the script, and Spike Jonze who directed, are to be commended for being so daring and free with the usual notions of reality while callously demonstrating just how selfish human relationships can be. To analyze this film is very much beside the point, but I'm going to do a little bit of that anyway. John Cusack stars as an out of work puppeteer with a cheating heart. Cameron Diaz is his hard-working mousey little wife who supports him and a menagerie of animals including a chimpanzee ensconced in their New York apartment. An early scene shows her going off to work while Cusack rolls over and goes back to sleep. Catherine Keener enters the scene with her big smile and long legs as a supremely confident amoral user of people and quickly becomes the focus of the triangle as both Cusack and Diaz fall in madly in love with her. She, however, is not so enamored. She is not attracted to Cusack at all and tells him so, and finds Diaz interesting but only after seeing her adoring eyes inside the eyes of John Malkovich, who plays himself. Offbeat enough? Not yet. Cusack has met Keener through his new job as a fast-fingered file clerk at a data storage firm with offices on the seventh and a half floor in a New York high rise. The floor is just about four and a half feet high (low overhead!) so that everybody has to bend over whenever they stand up. Orson Bean plays the head of the firm who is 110 years old or so with Mary Kay Place as his annoying secretary. While filing Cusack drops a folder behind a filing cabinet. He pulls out the cabinet and lo and behold discovers a little Alice in Wonderland door. He opens it and crawls forward in the dark and swoosh! is drawn into the person of actor John Malkovich, who is going about his daily life. Cusack looks out and sees what John is seeing, hears what John is hearing, experiences what John is experiencing. He is BEING John Malkovich! Okay, we have our strikingly original premise. Where the film goes from here is the tough part. It includes some funny shtick and some intriguing ideas about identity, a prospect for immortality, Malkovich being turned into a puppet, some unusual sex games, a couple of appearances by Charlie Sheen as his contemporary self and later as a balding middle aged man, ending with the resolution of the triangle and a hint of a possible sequel. I was entertained mainly because of the strong performances by Keener, Cusack, Malkovich and Diaz. I was somewhat disappointed that the last part of the film did not live up to the beginning in terms of originality. The old people waiting for rebirth reminded me of something out of Cocoons (1985). But Cusack's prospective life as a little girl was a chuckle to contemplate, and I couldn't help but applaud Keener's sly triumph. But enough of these beguiling hints about what happens. See it for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing twist..
Review: I saw this movie with others and they all said, "What the f*ck?". I was amazed that a director that could put together a piece of artwork crazier than a Picasso paintaing but it all fits together through some sort of weave. Each minute the movie gets crazier and crazier with its doubtful plots about going into the mind of John Malcovich and bieng dumped out on the side of a highway. Cameron Diaz did an excellent job potraying the confused wife who goes into the portal to fulfill her sexual desires for Catherine Keener who becomes John Malcoviche's love interest. It was refreshing for her to play such a powerful role instead of the dumb blonde she usually portrays. John Cusak also did excellent as the troubled pupeteer who completely takes over Malcovich's body and mind controlling his life and fulfilling his life on becoming a professional pupeteer with Keener as his new companion. The movie endlessly goes nowhere but it was delicously entertaining and I strongly recommend it if your sick of the action/blood/guy-gets-girl themes in most movies today.
Rating:
Summary: Do You Ever Wish You Were Somebody Else?
Review: Being John Malkovich, directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, is one of the most original ideas for a film I have ever seen. Kaufman, who also wrote other incredible films like Adaptation [also directed by Jonze] and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [by Michel Gondry], is by far the most imaginative and intricate of screenwriters working today. His Being John Malkovich is no exceptional. The film centers about Craig [John Cusack], a failing puppeteer who, desperate for work, applies for a job as a "speed-filer" on the seven and a half floor of an office building. So bizarre is this that the orientation to the job includes a short film explaining that the architect of the building fell in love with a midget and, to please her, created a half-floor so she and her "accursed" people would have a place to feel tall. On his first day on the job, Craig meets Maxine [Catherine Keener], a femme fatale whom he is instantly attracted to but whose love, lamentably, is unrequited. One day, though, Craig stumbles onto a small cubby hole and crawls into it to see where it leads. Suddenly, he is sucked through time and space and enters the brain of the actor, John Malkovich for fifteen minutes before being spat out next to the New Jersey turnpike. Thereafter, Craig and Maxine band together and make a business of exploiting the mind of John Malkovich to paying customers. "Do you ever wish you were somebody else?" they ask. Soon, though, a strange and twisted love...uh, square forms between Craig, Craig's wife [Cameron Diaz], Maxine and John Malkovich. The ending scene is surprising and somewhat unsettling, but not a letdown, and the scene where Malkovich enters his own portal is one of the most fascinating, if not alarming, scenes in all of film history. The Special Features included on the disc are strange and eccentric--they include a scene with nothing on it, a weird and pointless interview with an extra on the set, a documentary on real-life puppeteers, and a staged [?] interview with Spike Jonze, in which the director becomes so nervous for fear of the camera that he must throw up. Overall, Being John Malkovich is certainly not a film you are likely to forget.
Rating:
Summary: What a pity...
Review: ...Mr. John Malkovich didn't object to this using of his name as a title, because it's only the proof he needed that for advertising, which is not any proof of his confidence in his talents (which I'm rating much lower now). As well, or rather as bad, I can't stand any longer the search engines finding 'Spike Jonze' when I'm looking for "Spike Jones" who would have deserved a thousand times more to be released in DVD (but, of course, crap lovers being innumerable....maybe human beings should now be considered as 'endangered species' and get a little more attention). I can also assure Mr. John Malkovich that I will avoid anything else he's in from now on (I don't even want a glimpse of this one, the title was more than enough: although almost all actors/actresses are known for some nombrilistic tendencies, I'm sorry to see that Mr. Malkovich can put himself on the same level as Madonna)
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, Extremely Original, and Very Entertaining!!
Review: Craig Schwartz ( John Cusack)dreams of being a successful puppeteer, but is struggling to make ends meet. To make some extra money, he takes a job as a filing clerk. One day at work, he accidentally stumbles onto a door, that is really a portal into the brain of John Malkovich. For fifteen minutes, he sees, hears, and experiences everything that Malkovich does. Then he is dumped onto the New Jersey turnpike. Together with his beautiful co-worker Maxine ( Catherine Keener), and pet-obsessed wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz), they come up with a way to make "Being John Malovich" a profitable one, by charging 200 bucks a trip. The only problem, is that Malkovich starts to learn about what's going on... "Being John Malkovich" is one of the funniest and most original films I have ever seen in my life. The script is amazing with its combination of puppetry, infidelity, and out of body experiences. The love triangle between Keener, Diaz, and Cusak is extremely well done, and fun to watch. It is also extremely funny, because they are only attracted to each other when they are inside Malkovich. The three really offer top notch performances. However, the best performance of all was given by the man himself John Malkovich. John is extremely funny in the role, and gives an accurate portrayal of what one would go through in his situation. Watching him as a puppeteer,will have you in tears from laughing so hard. The camera work on this film is outstanding. The film is actually shot at times, from the inside of John's head, looking out. This extremely funny, and bizare film is truly one of the best films that I have seen in the last couple of years. The plot is extremely interesting and creative, the acting is perfect all the way around, and the camera work is amazing. The DVD is outstanding and offers an interview with director Spike Jonze, a look at the art of puppeteering, and a lot more. Definately a must own for anyone's DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: VERY IMAGINATIVE, SURREAL HUMAN FANTASY, BUT..
Review: Let's get the praise over with first. This unconventional movie starts with a very intriguing notion, brilliantly surreal and off-centre, basically something very different from mainstream cinema but still playful and fun. It rakes up some thoughtful issues -- (1) The real sexual desires buried deep in human minds;
(2) The need of ordinary folk to want to be someone else, someone more *seemingly* glamorous than themselves;
(3) The expressiveness of the puppeting medium; some of the puppeteer sequences are simply breathtaking;
(4) The swiftness with which people would pounce on the weakness of other humans to start making money;
(5) In parts, the jerk-a-tear statement about animal bondage;
(6) And tying in all these loose sub-ends, the ultimate notion of freedom and love of self, etc etc. All that is well and dandy, and this is easily one of the most creative movies out of Hollywood in recent times. However, having just watched it a second time I must say it's a bit of an empty shell once you get beyond the surprise factor. I didn't laugh, I smirked the odd time, and certainly my heart wasn't warmed - it's a very cold movie really, nothing wrong with that, but it's hardly one that will merit lasting affection. It's a strange mixture really, because there is some sort of pretension to art at times, yet at others the characters and the emotions are paper-thin. Yet we're supposed somehow to be affected by these characters despite the fact that the film mocks and satirises them at every opportunity - the difference between this and the Coens is that they love even their most repellent characters and it rubs off on you! In the end my reaction to this is the same as to the Naked Gun or one of those broad hit-and-miss comedies - it's the same schtick. Towards the fourth quarter of the movie, I was just hoping it could all be put to an end soon. The director's interview on the DVD is funnier in two minutes than the rest of the film put together.
Rating:
Summary: Reviewing John Malkovich
Review: "Being John Malkovich" is one of the most daring, strangest, and original movies in years. We meet unemployed puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack), tepidly married to wife Lotte Schwartz (Cameron Diaz), who has filled their small apartment with psychologically damaged zoo animals. Craig is only engaged when practicing his artistic puppetry (the film opens with a puppet doing the "dance of despair"). Craig finds a want ad for a "fast-fingered" man and is hired as a filing clerk, on the 7 1/2th floor of an office building. The ceilings are less than 5 feet high, and everyone walks around stooped. His ancient boss wants to talk about his ancient sexual conquests, and the boss's secretary deliberately mistranslates everyone's speech. So, loser Craig now has oppressive home and work life, when he meets the devious Maxine (Catherine Keener). Craig falls for Maxine, Maxine couldn't care less about Craig, and lets him know in the nastiest way. Craig doesn't care. One day he finds an opening behind a file cabinet and follows it into... John Malkovich's head. For 15 minutes Craig experiences Malkovich's ride in a taxicab. Then Craig is dumped by the side of the NJ Turnpike. He tells Maxine all about it, and she immediately sees the business possibilities. Craig goes along, wanting to please her. Lotte meets Maxine and also falls for her. Maxine decides she prefers Lotte, but only when Lotte goes through the portal and is "being John Malkovich." Craig, by now insanely jealous, locks Lotte in the chimp cage and becomes Malkovich himself, knowing Maxine has a "date" with "Lotte." And things continue from there, plenty more plot I haven't told you about, such as what happens when Malkovich finds out about this business venture! Director Spike Jonze did a marvelous job with the lighting and sets; Craig's life on the bizarre 7 1/2th floor is just as cramped and closed-in as his apartment full of pets with childhood trauma. Only in Malkovich's world is there space and light. A brilliant original.
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