Review of Being John Malkovich (1999) by Kyle M — 15 Dec 2014

In some cases, the titles can be the film's own overall, simple description. "Being John Malkovich" is what the title states: the film was "being" John Malkovich with the atmosphere of his well-known weird personality he puts in most of his film roles of his acting career. The result of that made the ending unsatisfying when the characters changed to Malkovich's level of weirdness or a little of the same as his past film roles.

The cause of their change in character was they were being obsessed with Malkovich's head. John Cusack's unsuccessful puppeteer character became desperate and a little creep like Malkovich's role in "Dangerous Liaisons." Cameron Diaz's pet-loving character had turned to obsessive and jealousy with some nastiness and stubbornness to annoy. Catherine Keener's character is the film's nasty side as she brought the nastiness to Diaz and how the film turned out to be since she's a more successful puppeteer without being one. Malkovich was the only innocent character as he was being used and tortured by the people getting in his head having their personality changed.

"It's my head!" - John Malkovich.

But the best part is how very original it is with the inventive ideas to the script and the story and the surprises.

"Being John Malkovich" may have fell short under the expectancy of greatness I was expecting to enjoy out of this entertainment due to the unsatisfying end. But the originality kept this up at a 4-star level when the script and the story and a little of the performances helped. (B+).

If there's ever going to be a remake or reboot on another actor as the lab subject, Johnny Depp may be a good choice only if he receive more freedom and less torture than what Malkovich went through.