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Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

tomatometer

93

Average Rating: 8.4/10
Reviews Counted: 218
Fresh: 203 | Rotten: 15

A twisty, trippy, yet moving take on love, Kaufman-style.

90

Average Rating: 7.9/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 38 | Rotten: 4

A twisty, trippy, yet moving take on love, Kaufman-style.

audience

93

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 503,889

My Rating

Movie Info

The second feature from director Michel Gondry (Human Nature) finds the filmmaker reteaming with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman for this off-the-wall romantic comedy. Jim Carrey stars as Joel Barish, a man who is informed that his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has had her memories of their relationship erased from her brain via an experimental procedure performed by Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). Not to be outdone, Joel decides to have the same procedure done to himself. As Mierzwiak's

Sep 28, 2004

$34.1M

Focus Features

Cast

All Critics (218) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (213) | Rotten (15) | DVD (51)

It's the kind of film that could mean more to people after they've left the theater and thought about it awhile.

August 7, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comment
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There is little charm in the coupling and almost no erotic intimacy, just a series of nerve-racking conversational collisions.

March 25, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comments (8)
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The disappointment I felt at the end of Eternal Sunshine was almost crushing, simply because there were sections of it that were as daring in their emotional directness as anything I've seen in years.

March 21, 2004 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comments (8)
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Kaufman] clearly surpasses himself.

March 21, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Neither wholly cynical nor wholly romantic, Kaufman's story is a balance of smarts and sentiment.

March 19, 2004 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The perfect movie about love's inevitable imperfections.

March 19, 2004 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Imaginative, loopy romance is for adults only.

December 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Michel Gondry tries to channel Fellini and ends up irrigating faulty plumbing.

ColeSmithey.com

This is a wonderful, often beautiful, and melancholy character study of romance, humanity, and the mind with wonderful acting, incredible surrealism and a funny and heart-wrenching story.

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

The film entertains for the most part and gives us a set of marvellous performances from this outstanding cast, even if it doesn't quite reach the near-genius of Kaufman's other writings.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

Most imaginative and impressively executed...

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

Kaufman and Gondry bring out all the weirdness of the premise, sometimes eliciting disbelieving laughter, sometimes taking us to odd, chilly places.

July 30, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Walking into a theater with Charlie Kaufman on the screen is like volunteering for that wacky boat trip Willy Wonka took through the chocolate factory tunnel...

July 2, 2006 Comment

Works marvel after marvel in expressing the bewildering beauty and existential horror of being trapped inside one's own addled mind, and in allegorising the self-preserving amnesia of a broken but hopeful heart.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Eternal Sunshine is fresh, heartfelt and ultimately heartbreaking in its honest portrayal of a modern relationship.

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

The reality is that Hollywood is such an idea poor place Kaufman tends to get more credit than he deserves for work which only occasionally rises above the level of mind games and showy sleight of hand.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comments (19)
Film Threat

It is an enchanting clutter of love and reason that will only appeal to the audience willing to take the time to see the movie and then think about it later.

July 5, 2005 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com | Comment
Bullz-Eye.com

A unique deconstruction of man's innate desire to avert heartache.

May 3, 2005 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | Comment
Lessons of Darkness

The kind of movie that only gets better the more you think about it and I think it cries out for repeat viewings.

March 5, 2005 Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | Comments (6)
NYC Film Critic

The two-disc set here does a good job of fleshing out the background of the film. The bonus features make it a definite purchase for any fan.

February 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Needcoffee.com | Comment
Needcoffee.com

It's a movie that careens wildly through the barricades that normally, politely cordon off narrative cinema from the rest of 'real' life.

January 26, 2005 Full Review Source: Now Playing Magazine | Comment

You won't soon forget this walk down memory lane. Actually, make that a RUN down memory lane.

January 21, 2005 Full Review Source: MovieCrypt.com | Comment
MovieCrypt.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

This is, flat out, one of the best movies I have ever seen and I must have seen it eight times already. It never grows tired. The acting is superb, the idea--that if you erase an experience from your mind has it actually happened, have you learned?--is so intriguing to me it must be hitting some pleasure button in my

February 5, 2012
Bathsheba Monk
Bathsheba Monk

Super Reviewer

A very very moving film with deep character development that you'd expect from a director like Gondry but more then you'd expect from an actor like Carrey. It's very trippy and confusing but like Inception it's so good that you dont have to get it to like it. I got the message and I loved it.

November 14, 2011
Michael M.
Michael Miller

Super Reviewer

    1. Joel Barish: I can't see anything I don't like about you.
    2. Clementine Kruczynski: But you will, you will think of things and I'll get bored with you and feel trapped because that's what happens with me.
    3. Joel Barish: Okay.
    4. Clementine Kruczynski: Okay.
    – Submitted by Jessa P (6 days ago)
    1. Joel Barish: I could die right now, Clem. I'm just... happy. I've never felt that before. I'm just exactly where I want to be.
    – Submitted by Félix C (14 days ago)
    1. Clementine Kruczynski: Meet me in Montauk....
    – Submitted by Rafael R (29 days ago)
    1. Joel Barish: ...If only I could meet someone new. I guess my chances are somewhat diminished, seeing that I'm incapable of making eye contact whit a woman I don't know...
    – Submitted by Jorge T (30 days ago)
    1. Joel Barish: [speaking on tape] ...you spend that much time with someone, only to find out she's a stranger.
    – Submitted by Jerky S (43 days ago)

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