Being John Malkovich
Cast
John Cusack as Craig Schwartz
Cameron Diaz as Lotte Schwartz
Ned Bellamy as Derek Mantini
Eric Weinstein as Father at Puppet Show
Madison Lanc as Daughter at Puppet Show
Directed by Spike Jonze
Rater #2 has description and review
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
6/10. In Spike Jonze's overrated but fine movie Being John Malkovich, John
Cusack is Craig Schwartz, a struggling puppeteer. He lives with his
wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz), who is an animal lover, but we never find
out her job. Craig needs a job so he gets a job on the 7� floor of an
office building. Soon he discovers a portal into the head of actor
John Malkovich (John Malkovich). Weirdness ensues.
Cusack is unrecognizable, and so is Diaz, but not Catherine Keener,
who plays Maxine, someone else who works on the 7� floor. I found
that the quasi-romantic quality between Cusack and Keener was one-
sided. Keener's acting was rather stiff; I was disappointed. Cusack
was quite good, if a little forced at times; it seems like he was
forced into doing this movie. Diaz was okay, but nothing remarkable.
As I said before, Keener's acting was flat. Malkovich actually was
good, I was pleasantly surprised.
The story is unusually mellow, going for a lot of the movie without
music. It would make more sense to bring out the mood of the piece. I
also felt like Jonze underplayed the fantasy element. Sure, I liked
the 7� floor and the portal, but if they had used more special
effects (imagine a day where someone would say that) it would have
been more believable, not that this concept is one that happens every
day. The ending, which includes Craig's boss Dr. Lester (Orson Bean),
seemed too out there and out of the blue. Many times, we were
expected to think "Oh, of course!" because they rarely explained
anything. I did find it amusing at first, but after awhile it got
annoying.
At the beginning there were lots of laughs, but they soon became
sporadic and smaller. Of course, this isn't a film where everyone is
telling one-liners, but if they had, as I've said before, put in
special effects, maybe humorous ones, it would have made the movie
more enjoyable. It was very entertaining and imaginative, though.
Only Jonze could think of something this twisted. I had no idea where
this roller coaster was going to stop or if I'd just be stuck in the
loop-the-loop for 105 minutes.
To me, it looks like Jonze is a puppet fan, glamorizing puppets all
throughout the movie. I didn't like the "first ending", where
everything slows down, but the last one I did like a lot. That
doesn't make any sense, right? Well, where you think the conclusion
is I didn't like, but the denouement I enjoyed. There's not much more
I can say about this flawed but enjoyable comedy.
Rater #3
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #4
Has Not Seen Movie
Rated R for language and sexuality.
Running time: 112 minutes
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