After such ambitious, imaginative blends of comedy and drama as *AMERICAN BEAUTY, *CRADLE WILL ROCK, *TOPSY-TURVY, and *MAGNOLIA, nothing more need be said for BEING JOHN MALKOVICH than that it is the most original of the lot. Let me add my voice to those who urge, GO SEE IT, on video or wherever possible.

That is not to say you will enjoy it, but everyone should take a chance on experiencing it.

Not since the halcyon days of Preston Sturges -- his butchered, almost final film THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK (1947) comes to mind -- have I seen such a zany, bizarre piece of work.

When father-in-law Francis Ford Coppola helped virgin feature film Director Spike Jonz meet with John Malkovich in Paris to discuss Charlie Kaufman's peculiar script, he showed his brand of nepotism still can result in great films. Malkovich was flattered and amused but did not believe such a film could be financed. When the money materialized, Malkovich had the balls to take the title role, insuring the film would be made.

Jonz, with the aplomb of a veteran, guides a very funny cast of characters down the rabbit hole of Kaufman's mind. A discouraged puppetmaster Craig Schwartz (John Cusack), who is obsessed with the story of Heloise and Abelard, finally gives in to his wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz) and takes "a real job" in an office complex once renovated for midgets. This stranger and stranger company is presided over by a premier senior comic actor, the underused Orson Bean, but is actually run by the office manager and resident siren, played by the cooly attractive Catherine Keener. Schwartz, in his bumbling way, one day finds a smaller hole in the wall yet, and comes up inside John Malkovich's head. Soon everyone wants to go there, too.

The lead actors, always talented, give breakthrough performances. Just compare John Cusack here with his Nelson Rockefeller in CRADLE WILL ROCK or Cameron Diaz with her wench in last year's THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY to realize how good they are.

With the appearance of Sophia Coppola Jonz's *THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (2000), we may being seeing in the unlikely pair of Spike and Sophia Jonz that unique combination in American Film -- a fully equal artistic marriage!

This much you may already know, and I need say no more than that the crazy, entertaining BEING JOHN MALKOVICH takes us to the edge of a cosmic conspiracy, even one of those religious experiences that bloated, self-indulgent efforts like THE MESSENGER or THE APOSTLE never approach.

Go take a chance on BEING JOHN MALKOVICH!

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To see Macresarf1's reviews of comparable films (mentioned above), click on:

AMERICAN BEAUTY --

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-39FA-12E457F4-387FA61F-prod2

CRADLE WILL ROCK --

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-2F84-93E8FE-38629B57-bd1

TOPSY-TURVY --

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-2375-B81ABBC-3873D2ED-prod1

MAGNOLIA --

http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-6D27-171053E5-388A5452-prod3

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