Product Description

Craig a struggling puppeteer accidentally discovers a portal leading into the brain of john malkovich. For 15 minutes he experiences the ultimate head trip-he is john malkovich! then he is dumped onto the new jersey turnpike! Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 04/01/2003 Starring: John Cusack John Malkovich Run time: 112 minutes Rating: R Director: Spike Jonze

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2453 in DVD
• Brand: Universal
• Released on: 2002-11-05
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 112 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
While too many movies suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly original that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman a thank-you note for restoring your faith in the enchantment of film. Even if it ultimately serves little purpose beyond the thrill of comedic invention, this demented romance is gloriously entertaining, spilling over with ideas that tickle the brain and even touch the heart. That's to be expected in a movie that dares to ponder the existential dilemma of a forlorn puppeteer (John Cusack) who discovers a metaphysical portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich.

The puppeteer's working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan office building; this idea alone might serve as the comedic basis for an entire film, but Jonze and Kaufman are just getting started. Add a devious coworker (Catherine Keener), Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely recognizable Cameron Diaz), and a business scheme to capitalize on the thrill of being John Malkovich, and you've got a movie that just gets crazier as it plays by its own outrageous rules. Malkovich himself is the film's pièce de résistance, riffing on his own persona with obvious delight and--when he enters his own brain via the portal--appearing with multiple versions of himself in a tour-de-force use of digital trickery. Does it add up to much? Not really. But for 112 liberating minutes, Being John Malkovich is a wild place to visit. --Jeff Shannon

Amazon.com
While too many movies suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly original that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman a thank-you note for restoring your faith in the enchantment of film. Even if it ultimately serves little purpose beyond the thrill of comedic invention, this demented romance is gloriously entertaining, spilling over with ideas that tickle the brain and even touch the heart. That's to be expected in a movie that dares to ponder the existential dilemma of a forlorn puppeteer (John Cusack) who discovers a metaphysical portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich.

The puppeteer's working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan office building; this idea alone might serve as the comedic basis for an entire film, but Jonze and Kaufman are just getting started. Add a devious coworker (Catherine Keener), Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely recognizable Cameron Diaz), and a business scheme to capitalize on the thrill of being John Malkovich, and you've got a movie that just gets crazier as it plays by its own outrageous rules. Malkovich himself is the film's pièce de résistance, riffing on his own persona with obvious delight and--when he enters his own brain via the portal--appearing with multiple versions of himself in a tour-de-force use of digital trickery. Does it add up to much? Not really. But for 112 liberating minutes, Being John Malkovich is a wild place to visit. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
An out-of-work puppeteer (John Cusack), his pet-loving girlfriend (Cameron Diaz), and a cynical office worker (Catherine Keener) take turns entering the head of the actor John Malkovich, where they remain for fifteen minutes at a time, experiencing everything he does, before being deposited with a whoosh beside the New Jersey Turnpike. This fantastic weightless comedy (sci-fi without the future or rockets or bad consequences), which was written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze, plays with notions of celebrity worship and gender reversal, but the best thing about it is the genially deadpan style of its most absurd inventions. No great fuss is made about the launching pad for the Malkovich invasions, which is an office with ceilings so low that everyone must stoop. There are wonderful jokes-such as a monkey with bad memories, and Malkovich, possessed, doing spastic riffs equal to Steve Martin's in "All of Me." To see this actor who is known for his insolent equipoise literally freaking out is one of the more satisfying sights of the year. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

MAGICAL
To call BEING JOHN MALKOVICH a work of genius seems inadequate. Kaufman's script is so strikingly original, and Spike Jonze's direction so adroit it restored my faith in Hollywood. The cast from John Cusack, Cameron Diaz ( in my favorite Diaz-role ), John Malkovich, Catherine Keener, and Orson Bean, are terrific.

The only experience I can equate this movie to is my first bungey jump. You'll laugh, you may even cry, but you won't be bored by this film.

Absolute, esoteric entertainment
What a gem of a movie. Imaginative writing that was so hilarious, I couldn't wait for the next scene, to see if it was going to be funnier that the previous one. Orson Bean (Doctor Lester) was an unbelievable filthy, dirty, sex-starved old coot - "Insane, old lech" is how John Cusak's character; Craig Schwartz put it. The interplay between Cusak and Kathryn Keener (Maxine) was "way out there." Excellent direction from Spike Jonze.

I don't know what else to add but that this was the weirdest, most enjoyable movie I've seen in years. We should all be so lucky as to be in John Malkovich's eyes and then spit out 15 minutes later.

"I was John fu**ing Malkovich!" - exclaimed Cameron Diaz (Lotte Schwartz). A total crackup. "Malkovich!" "Malkovich!" "Malkovich!" "Malkovich!" You'll love "Craig's Dance Of Despair And Disillusionment"

Mind-bending fun
This is one of the coolest, most bizarrely funny movies I have ever seen. It stayed with me long after I left the movie theater, and I just wanted to view it again and again. Charlie Kaufman wrote a brilliant screenplay and all the actors do a wonderful job as characters who develop such an anguish over their own existence. I love that it is a totally original tale. I recently added this DVD to my collection because it is one of my favorite movies of all time!