OK - I know that I’m behind, but I just rented this movie…
…and loved it.
My problem is that I still can’t figure out what about it I loved!
Comments?
I loved the 7 1/2 floor, and the training video. And the fact that it was produced at all. Can you IMAGINE the pitch? “Um…we want to do a movie, starring John Cusack and Cameron Diaz. But they’ll be so ugly, you won’t recognize them. And we want it to be about being in John Malcovitch’s head, because everyone’s HEARD of him, but he’s not that well known. Give us 30 million dollars.”
And Charlie Sheen was a RIOT.
It is a great film because there are more good ideas in it than they needed. Not every idea was worked to death. I also like the fact that a screwball comedy turned very black. On the downside, the explanation of the portal and its use in bringing the plot to a conclusion detracted from the film.
I agree.
By the time Cameron Diaz went to What’sHisName’s house and learned how the whole fakakta system worked, I felt lost. Then, when we met the crowd of immortal geezers, I felt cheated.
THEN, when the ending was such a downer, I got depressed.
What’s the moral?
Everything is funny. Yes, everything. You can ruin most of it by asking why.However, in the case of this movie, it’s an excellent conversation piece. So here we go.
Reasons you liked “Being John Malkovitch”:
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In your whole life, you have never seen a movie quite like this. You’ve never even fathomed one. There is only one word that can describe this movie, and I don’t know what it is, but you can bet that, whatever it is, this movie is moreso than any other ever made before.
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It is so weird, and it is about some of the weirdest SOBs you’ve ever seen, and yet you empathize with them. Shame on you.
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It was freakin funny! Everything had me cracking up, and everyone in the theatre wanted to kill me. The fact that a little door on the 71/2 floor of some office building you’ve never seen leads to the brain of Mr John Malkovitch? Ridiculous. The fact that when one exits the head of John Malkovitch one falls from the sky and lands in a ditch along the NJ turnpike? BRILLIANT! YOU didn’t think of it!
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The oscar-worthy scene starring John Malkovitch, John Malkovitsh, and John Malkovitch in which John Malkovitch goes into the head of John Malkovitch and it is full of John Malkovitches, and the absolutely genius dialog “Malkovitch. Malkovitch Malkovitch? Malkovitch. Malkovitch Malkovitch Malkovitch Malkovitch. Malkovitch? MALKOVITCH!!! Malkovitch.”
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The all-puppet sex scene.
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(and I think this is the most important one) Have we not…be honest!..all at one time deep down, whether consciously or subconsciously, all wanted to be John Malkovitch at some point in our lives?
There is no letter “t” in the name Malkovich! Aarrgh! Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich!
That said, I enjoyed the movie very much but was horrified at the ending.
(SPOILER WARNING)
Horrified by the fate of John Malkovich, the character, I mean. Entombed within his own head, forced to watch helplessly while someone else lives his life? How creepy! Yes, a similar fate befalls Cusack’s character, but it’s poetic justice in his case.
“Sir, my name is Schwartz.”
“Security!”
What a weird movie! I loved it!
It’s amazing the people who sit down and come up with this stuff. Even though it had a pretty basic story line it seemed to keep my attention.
Yes me favorite part is “Malcovich! Malcovich. Malcovich!”.
This is what I was left with, an uneasiness. It was hilarious and off beat in the beginning (I loved the lady in the elevator being SO nonchalant about ‘you want 7 and a half, right?’ and picking up the crow bar!) I also about fell off my chair when the people would fall onto the road, and John Cusack’s character was already there waiting for them!
But, when Cameron Diaz’s character goes to the boss’s home, it just plain got unbalanced for me.
I still love the chimp REALLY getting himself straightened out from his muddled ‘chimphood’ by untying Cameron! Totally weird!
From frup.
4) The oscar-worthy scene starring John Malkovitch, John Malkovitsh, and John Malkovitch in which John Malkovitch goes into the head of John Malkovitch and it is full of John Malkovitches, and the absolutely genius dialog “Malkovitch. Malkovitch Malkovitch? Malkovitch. Malkovitch Malkovitch Malkovitch Malkovitch. Malkovitch? MALKOVITCH!!! Malkovitch.”
That was a classic scene. But really loved the chase scene through Malkovich’s subconscous.
First things first. This was a fantastic movie!!
I have to tell you that I didn’t even know that was Cameron Diaz at first, and when I read the cast on the back of the box, I still had a hard time believing it was her.
The puppets in the movie were incredible. I watched it on DVD, and they had a special feature about the puppeteer. The guys a little weird, but very talented.
I loved the “darkness” of the movie. It reminded me of the office scene at the beginning of Joe vs. the Volcano.
I really didn’t mind the ending. I’m not sure there’s anything I would change about this movie.
Absolutely - I watched the flick on VHS, and kept rewinding the puppet scenes because I was “sure” that some of them were “trick shots” of real actors.
Incredible.
SwimmingRiddles wrote:
Thank Michael Stipe. It was the production company he set up (Single Cell Productions, I think) which took a gamble on this film. Stipe may be the coolest guy ever to grace our fair planet.
Just an attempt to get an artist into his work, in this case, the puppeteer becomes the puppet. I think they could have done it in more of a Twilight Zone sort of way. As a matter of fact, it may have very weel been based on a Twilight Zone.