Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[TB4000]

I don’t believe it. I honestly do not believe it. A movie featuring The Mask, Mary Jane Watson, the younger version of the old lady from Titanic, and Frodo Baggins himself is monotonous. But wait, you say. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has been getting rave reviews all the live long week….what the hell kind of critic are you to go against the whole of the critic society? One with taste, obviously (ba-dum-bump). Upon hearing about this movie, I was all prepared to love it. I heard that Jim Carrey was excellent in it, even after hearing the exact same things about his Man on the Moon and the Majestic, a movie I still have yet to see (and in the future, probably will still have yet to). Considering the A-list cast of Carrey, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, and Kate Winslet, combined with a screenplay by Charlie “my movies will make you think, and also run screaming” Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine should be one of the most enjoyable movies out now. I have to own up to it…there are scenes that could only be described as abstract art come to life, but aside from those few instances…it just weighs itself down.
The basic plotline concerns Carrey’s character Joel, and his discovery that his ex-girlfriend Clemintine (Winslet) has abruptly had their relationship wiped clean from her memory through the use of Lacuna, Inc., a company that has the ability to erase points in a person’s memory completely. Angered by what she’s done, Joel goes to the exact same place, in an attempt to do the exact same thing and have her wiped clean from his own memory banks. As the process unfolds though, he discovers that, surprise, surprise…he doesn’t want her completely gone, like he once thought.
The problem I had with this movie, aside from the fact that its plot is again, similar to earlier movies concerning memories…Nemo, Memento, etc., is that it’s way too incoherent when they delve into Joel’s psyche. You better be paying attention like you’re in your damn physics lecture, because missing one thing or not catching something will cause extreme and utter confusion. Keeping everything straight in a movie is supposed to be fun, not a chore, and it felt like a chore to me watching this about halfway through. Also, two or three times Carrey transforms from his dramatic ac-tore status to Ace Ventura, as he re-lives his childhood in several scenes. I like when he’s the comedian, but in this movie, it seemed too out of place.
The movie was directed by Michael Gondry, whose past work is music video directing (a video director directing a movie? Get the fuck outta here!!!!) He’s done videos for The White Stripes, among other acts, and if you’ve seen any of those, you’ll recognize his style in the memory loss scenes, as stuff disappears and reappears very harshly. It’s an interesting effect, though you will get sick of it after the 6th time.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I cannot really recommend you. You were an interesting experience, but ultimately you just didn’t know what you wanted to be, even with the $20 million cast.