At the risk of many movie lovers exclaiming expletives in my direction, I will be upright and truthful in saying no, I had never seen Being John Malkovich until recently. And I’m glad. I don’t think I could have coped with this when it was released. Seriously, what the what? As soon as the film started I remembered why I had never bothered to watch it before. The absolute insanity, honestly. Whoever sat down with John Malkovich and explained the concept to him, was either paid far too much money or snorted too much coke before shooting this film. Furthermore, the fact that Malkovich would partake in this cinematic oddity boggles my mind.
For anyone who has yet to view it, Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) and his animal obsessed wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz), both develop feelings for Craig’s new business partner, Maxine (Catherine Keener). Craig discovers a portal in his new workplace that allows people to travel into the brain of John Malkovich (further adding to the madness is the fact that the choice of Malkovich is never explained) and decides to share this secret with Maxine. Maxine, being a manipulative psycho, decides to charge the public $200 for entry into Malkovich’s brain and all the while she is dating Malkovich…whilst Lotte and later Craig too, are in Malkovich’s brain. It’s all a bit strange really.
As someone who finds Malkovich curious and overrated as a performer, I was probably going to be a bit negative about this anyway! Having said this, I’m glad I saw it but fail to see what all the well remembered fuss was about to be honest. Given Malkovich’s oeuvre, one can imagine why he was drawn to the film in one way….but it’s quite the headwreck. One to avoid if you dislike migraines. Oooh, I’m harsh but fair.
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January 24, 2012
Michelle Lacey
