Review of Being John Malkovich (1999) by Andrew M — 22 Apr 2016

Talk about underwhelming mediocrity when it clearly could've done something revolutionary. Given that this was Kaufman's debut work, I'll try to be civil. Once you get passed Cusack and Diaz's strange, uninteresting, hideous characters, we're left with bigger-than-life ideas/epiphanies with weak and daft justification for them.

Diaz wants a weiner, Cusack wants Keener, Diaz wants Keener, Malkovich wants Keener, Keener wants coin. Christ almighty, by the end of this film, I wanted Keener, too, simply because her performance was the only accolade-worthy, I guess.

Alright, Malkovich delivered quite well with his soft-spoken, monotonous, yet temperamental self-portrayal. And Charlie Sheen's cameo was fun, too. Kaufman tried to create Cusack and Diaz to be so impossibly disparate and loco that he overlooked the rationale behind the madness/weirdness.

Maybe after several viewings I'll realize the significance of 7.5 floor, how every word was misconstrued by the secretary etc., and the speech impediment (or lack thereof). I'm used to pleasuring Kaufman-movie scores to be, at least, memorable; not the case with this bad boy.

Cinematography never wowed except during the Oompa Loompa-sized door shots, those were passable. Thank Christ Kaufman has ameliorated his work progressively through the years, but it's a pretty phenomenal primary effort nonetheless.

Kaufman inhales thoughts and dreams and exhales originality for all of us to witness, and that's why we adore him and his work. This is no exception: one of the most brilliant screenplay concepts ever.

Too bad he executed poorly, part due to marginal casting; I felt like Cusack should have never been attached (unless he played Sheen's cameo guy) and Diaz was very vexing and unbelievable. Feel like the casting was very arbitrary in hopes of creating something very special without adequate typecast research.

Keener was perfect and Malkovich was good, that's it.