Being John Malkovich

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH

Rating: C+
This movie starts off with a bang but ends in a whimper. Or, more accurately, a pathetic dying gasp. When John Cusack attends a job interview on the 7½ floor of an office building (where, because the floor is sandwiched in between the 7th and 8th floors, all the occupants must shamble around hunched over due to the extremely low ceilings) we realize we're in for a delightfully quirky movie. But then the filmmakers feel compelled to provide a "rational" explanation for the existence of this floor. Why bother? It would've been more effective if the characters acted like it was nothing unusual. Later, when Cusack discovers a tunnel in the office which allows one to actually travel into the consciousness of John Malkovich, the concept suggests some interesting possibilities, all of which are skillfully played out. The audience is treated to a voyeuristic glimpse into the everyday life of the actor, as he phones in an order for bath towels from a catalog (and asks if he can make a substitution for the bath mat that comes with them) and saunters about his apartment. (Come on, admit it, you've always wondered what everyday life is like for these guys!) In subsequent scenes, director Spike Jonze also raises questions regarding the meaning of identity, and whether love is focused more toward the person's inner identity or their outward persona.

But then the whole train gets derailed in catastrophic fashion. Jonze introduces a subplot involving Orson Bean and a band of loonies, and tries to offer an explanation for the tunnel into Malkovich's consciousness. Once again, the explanation falls flat on its face, and the movie suffers for it. The whole subplot leads to a ridiculous race against time that absolutely no one in the audience cares about.

The other major problem involves Cusack's wife (Cameron Diaz). She's portrayed early on as doting over a menagerie of animals in their apartment, including a bandaged iguana and a diapered chimp with an ulcer. But what the film would have us believe is that all the domesticity is really a cover to suppress what she really longs for - a lesbian lover. How many times have we been force-fed this cliché? When her lover (Catherine Keener) gets pregnant after making love with Malkovich, she glowingly tells Diaz that she's the father because Diaz was inside Malkovich's mind at the time. Give me a break...