Opening

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62% The Bling Ring Jun 21
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100% A Hijacking Jun 21
68% Unfinished Song Jun 21
100% The Attack Jun 21
—— The Haunting of Helena Jun 21

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34% The Internship $7.1M
62% Epic $6.3M
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11% After Earth $4.1M
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Coming Soon

—— How To Make Money Selling Drugs Jun 26
—— White House Down Jun 28
—— The Heat Jun 28
56% I'm So Excited! Jun 28

Being John Malkovich (1999)

tomatometer

93

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 121
Fresh: 112 | Rotten: 9

Being John Malkovich is both funny and smart, featuring a highly original script.

93

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 27
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 2

Being John Malkovich is both funny and smart, featuring a highly original script.

audience

85

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 227,791

My Rating

Movie Info

Would you pay money to journey into the mind of the star of Con Air, The Killing Fields, and In The Line of Fire? Puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is having money problems, so he takes a temporary job as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a large office building. One day, while rummaging behind a cabinet, he finds a small door that leads to the center of the mind of actor John Malkovich (played by, you guessed it, John Malkovich). Craig discovers that entering the portal

R,

Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy

,

Charlie Kaufman

May 2, 2000

Gramercy Pictures - Official Site External Icon

Watch It Now

Cast

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All Critics (125) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (112) | Rotten (9) | DVD (32)

Devilishly inventive and so far out there it's almost off the scale.

June 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
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This outrageous comic fantasy may not sustain its brilliance throughout its 112 minutes, but it keeps cooking for so much of that time that I don't have many complaints.

February 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

By the time the tunnel worthy of the likes of Gulliver and Alice becomes a freeway clogged with bit players, a big chill has descended on all the characters.

April 27, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comments (5)
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This must be seen to be believed, a hundred carat cult item -- and all credit to Malkovich for playing along.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
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It is hard to mix moods -- the film is manic, subtle, comic and vaguely sad -- but [Jonze] does it masterfully.

July 21, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's clever, witty, dark and, most importantly, unwaveringly bizarre.

November 6, 2002 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

an essential existentialist text.

June 25, 2012 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central
Film Freak Central

Playing by its own rules every step of the way, Being John Malkovich is clearly the sort of movie that needs to be made more often.

June 14, 2012 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing

[VIDEO ESSAY] Corollaries of desire break through dead-end walls only to be reinvented on the other side in a supernatural spectrum of practical existence. Go figure.

April 3, 2012 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
ColeSmithey.com

Kids won't get this sex-driven, head-trip comedy.

December 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comments (3)
Common Sense Media

The movie is so successful at being so far on the fringe, it often isolates.

July 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Will benefit greatly from repeat viewings and fervent post-viewing deconstruction.

July 23, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
eFilmCritic.com

A film that seems to make all the right choices.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound
Big Picture Big Sound

In just a few years, with a flurry of wildly imaginative films and three Oscar nominations, Kaufman has managed to join the likes of David Mamet, Stephen King, William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde on the short list of screenwriting superstars.

January 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comment (1)
Arizona Daily Star

A triumph. Featuring a bizarrely original storyline, the screenplay by Charlie Kaufman is brought to the screen by Jonze in what may turn out to be one of the funniest films of the year.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

A surrealistic ride into a fantasy world that is unique and never before seen.

April 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews
Reeling Reviews

...dense with ideas and non sequitur surprises, a viewer-friendly fun house of a film that asks only that we enjoy the ride. It is smart without seeming challenging...

January 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Charlie Kaufman must be a monkey's uncle...

December 31, 2004 Full Review Source: StaciWilson.com
StaciWilson.com

This is "Alice in Wonderland" for this decade; its heroes crawl down rabbit holes into a world of gender role and sexual identity conflicts.

December 6, 2004
Looking Closer

No one will accuse music-video director Spike Jonze of making his feature-film debut with a boring, conventional movie.

June 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Premises don't come packaged more cleverly than this one. Stellar cast, eclectic story and a peculiar concept render this an imaginative albeit uneven two hours of unusual movie entertainment.

May 14, 2003
Palo Alto Weekly

I highly recommend being John Malkovich. And if you can't do it, at least see the film.

February 8, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Quips Online
Film Quips Online

Audience Reviews for Being John Malkovich

A strange, existential, and ultimately disconcerting film that just gets weirder and weirder. Major points for Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman for originality, but the film's atmosphere and mood are just so dismal. The film is almost saved by Malkovich's performance in second half, but the film remains too drab to provide enough reason to love it. A lot of originality and uniqueness (as well as strangeness) to offer, but not enough entertainment value. There is no comfortable balance between the two.
December 6, 2012
Kase Vollebregt

Super Reviewer

[img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]

Spike Jonze's wittily-written, incredibly acted comedy drama about a disgruntled but ambitious puppeteer who to his amazement finds a peculiar, mystical portal into the mind of John Malkovich, is a brilliantly surreal and mind boggling experience. It's profoundly original dream-like narrative exploring humanities selfishness and one's desire to be something else makes it consitently entertaining and builds up to an utterly unforgettable cinematic experience. Charlie Kaufman's clever yet non self-indulgent script creates some very awkward but hilarious situations for the characters and flawlessly disguises the insane fableness and fantasy of the story and it's characters infinitely believable. He went on to work with director Michel Gondry and wrote his masterpiece; Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, which I think is one of the best films ever made. He is arguably one of the most talneted art-house writers out there today and although he makes very few films the one's that he does work on are always brilliant. In the interesting case of Being John Malkovich, performance-wise it is perfect, Cameron Diaz and John Cusack advertise some fantastic chemistry, but the greatest stand-out is easily John Malkovich who is just perfect and undeniably engaging at being/playing John Malkovich. Catherine Keener is also great as the bitterly inhuman anti-hero, and Jonze's outstanding direction nails the film as a landmark. I think it's one of the best directorial debuts of all time, and if your not laughing at it, or being moved by it, you'll certainly be admiring it. It's a strange and emotionally detatching screen presence but in my opinion it's one of the best of it's kind. Endlessly fascinating and completely extraordinary.
September 22, 2012
Directors Cat
Directors Cat

Super Reviewer

    1. Larry the Agent: John! Great to see you! Sorry about the cunt at reception.
    – Submitted by Jeff G (15 months ago)
    1. John Malkovich: It's my head, Schwartz! It's my head!
    – Submitted by Alejandro O (19 months ago)
    1. Maxine Lund: I think the world is divided into those who go after what they want and those who don't. The passionate ones, the ones who go after what they want, they may not get what they want, but at least they remain vital, you know? So when they lie on their deathbeds, they have few regrets.
    – Submitted by Tomas K (20 months ago)
    1. Craig Schwartz: I think, I feel, I suffer.
    – Submitted by Tomas K (20 months ago)
    1. Charlie Sheen: Truth is for suckers, Johnny Boy
    – Submitted by Mariana B (22 months ago)
    1. Craig Schwartz: What happens when a man goes through his own portal?
    – Submitted by Alexander S (23 months ago)

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Latest News on Being John Malkovich

April 24, 2012:
Charlie Kaufman Will Adapt Chaos Walking for Lionsgate
The "Eternal Sunshine" maestro could shepherd the studio's next tween franchise.
March 2, 2011:
Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze Pitch Untitled Satire Project
"Adaptation" and "Being John Malkovich" partners Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze are ready to...
December 7, 2009:
Exclusive: The World of Where the Wild Things Are
It has taken Being John Malkovich and Adaptation director Spike Jonze more than five years to bring...

Foreign Titles

  • Dans la peau de John Malkovich (FR)
  • ¿Quieres ser John Malkovich? (ES)
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