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Review by Susan Granger
4 stars out of 4
If there's an award for the boldest, most unconventional and
wildly inventive movie of the year, it has to go to "Being John
Malkovich," in which screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike
Jonze blend surrealism with science-fiction and self-parody. John
Cusack stars as an out-of-work puppeteer who takes a job as a filing
clerk in a New York office building on the 7 1/2 floor, where the
rents are low because the ceilings are half the normal height. It's a
great visual gag as workers hunch over, scuttling down the hall. Stuck
in an unhappy marriage to an almost unrecognizable Cameron Diaz with
dark, frizzy hair, he becomes infatuated with a co-worker, Catherine
Keener, who couldn't be less interested. At least until he discovers a
small door behind a filing cabinet that leads to a tunnel which,
inexplicably, sucks him into the brain of actor John Malkovich. Cusack
can see through the actor's eyes and share whatever he's is feeling -
for 15 minutes - until he's dumped into a ditch on the New Jersey
Turnpike. When he shares his discovery with Keener, she immediately
sees the potential in selling entrance - $200 per person - to this
portal so that others can partake in the sensory and emotional
experiences of John Malkovich. They become partners in this commercial
venture - until, inevitably, the enigmatic Malkovich discovers how
they've opened this "metaphysical can of worms." Plus, there's a
deliriously mad subplot of gender/blender sexual seduction, absurdist
supporting gems from Orson Bean and Mary Kay Place, plus witty cameos
by Charlie Sheen, Sean Penn, and Brad Pitt. On the Granger Movie Gauge
of 1 to 10, "Being John Malkovich" is a clever, outrageous 10. It's a
film of astonishing and beguiling originality.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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out of 4
