Being John Malkovich Reviews
Film Freak Central
an essential existentialist text.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
Creative Loafing
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
ColeSmithey.com
[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.
Full Review
| Original Score: A+
Common Sense Media
Kids won't get this sex-driven, head-trip comedy.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Top CriticDevilishly inventive and so far out there it's almost off the scale.
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.
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
The movie is so successful at being so far on the fringe, it often isolates.
Full Review
| Original Score: C+
eFilmCritic.com
Will benefit greatly from repeat viewings and fervent post-viewing deconstruction.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
Big Picture Big Sound
A film that seems to make all the right choices.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
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.
Arizona Daily Star
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
Film Threat
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
It is hard to mix moods -- the film is manic, subtle, comic and vaguely sad -- but [Jonze] does it masterfully.
Reeling Reviews
A surrealistic ride into a fantasy world that is unique and never before seen.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
...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...
Full Review
| Original Score: A
Looking Closer
This is "Alice in Wonderland" for this decade; its heroes crawl down rabbit holes into a world of gender role and sexual identity conflicts.
| Original Score: A-
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
No one will accuse music-video director Spike Jonze of making his feature-film debut with a boring, conventional movie.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Palo Alto Weekly
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.
| Original Score: 3/4
Film Quips Online
I highly recommend being John Malkovich. And if you can't do it, at least see the film.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
