SNMR 5.8: "Being John Malkovich"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Being John Malkovich" (1999, R, 112 minutes), starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich and Orson Bean. The film was directed by Spike Jonze.

PLOT SUMMARY: Have you ever wanted to be someone else? Now you can.... at $200 bucks a pop.

Out of work puppeteer Craig Schwartz (Cusack) gets a filing job on the 7 1/2^th floor of a Manhattan office building. He discovers a portal there that for fifteen minutes allows him to see through someone else's eyes. Specifically, John Malkovich's eyes. When he allows his wife Lotte (Diaz) to enter the portal, she becomes obsessed with being John Malkovich, and falls in love with Craig's co-worker Maxine (Keener) in the process.

MY OPINION: Bizarre. This has got to be one of the weirdest movies I've watched in a long time. The script is definitely original and Jonze does a great job directing. I've never been a huge John Malkovich fan, but I certainly gained a new respect for the man through this film. It really is hard to parody yourself so shamelessly but Malkovich does so very convincingly and with much enthusiasm. His performance makes this film even better. John Cusack gives his usual excellent performance. Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener? Well I'm not so sure. They could have been better. Because it is so deep, I think this is the kind of film that gets better with repeated viewings.

***½ out of *****