Being John Malkovich

Written by: Charlie Kaufman Starring: John Malkovich, John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener A wild, surreal farce, as one might expect from someone who spells his name "Jonze." It's very clever, perhaps too much so by half. The picture is certainly entertaining, starting with the original premise: a secret portal that lets people be John Malkovich for 15 minutes. Kaufman and Jones spin this off into every possible permutation, and while they do come up with inventive variations, it's hard to escape a certain "one joke-ness" tone to the proceedings. I liked the picture, but (possibly because of the hype) found it to be just slightly disappointing. Cusack and Diaz (in a very "deglamourized" role) are fine, but Keener really stands out as Cusack's co-worker, a woman who is a bit self-centered, to put it mildly. Malkovich, of course, does a fine job playing... um... himself. Part of the gag involves spinning the erotic entanglements between the characters, and half the time they are using Malkovich's body to try to attain their own goals. Imagine, if you can, Cusack using Malkovich's body to sleep with Keener, who thinks it's actually Diaz in there sleeping with her. You don't see that every day. (2/5/00)