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Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Mary Kay Place ...( see more  see more... ) , Orson Bean

A man takes a new job on the 7th-and-a-half floor of an office building and stumbles upon a membranous room that leads inside the head of stage and screen actor John Malkovich. There he can see life t...( read more  read more... )hrough Malkovich's eyes before being systematically ejected from the room and onto the New Jersey turnpike. The man then rents out Malkovich's head to others, eventually letting his wife inside where she falls in love with another woman who, in turn, thinks she has fallen in love with John Malkovich.

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85% liked it

227,791 ratings

Critics

92% liked it

116 critics

R, 1 hr. 52 min.

Directed by: Spike Jonze

Release Date: October 29, 1999

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DVD Release Date: May 2, 2000

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Flixster Reviews (12,724)

  • Passenger1986
    January 23, 2010
    Passenger1986
    Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich. Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich. Malkovich Malkovich? Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich! (Right, I'll stop that. But for anyone who's seen the movie, they get it)

    This is a strange fil...( read more)m to describe. OK, sure, I've described strange films before but the plot involves people getting inside the head of John Malkovich via a portal on a floor in between the 7th and 8th floors of a building. All with a love triangle with puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusack), married to Lotte (Cameron Diaz) and both are attracted to Craig's co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener), who becomes attracted to Lotte while using Craig to suit her purposes and then there's Malkovich himself and it's best I stop here or else diagrams might be needed.

    So, the story in brief, Craig discovers the portal at his new job and uses it to escape his humdrum life and attempt to impress his new infatuation. Maxine sees it as a money making opportunity. Lotte sees it as a chance to seduce Maxine. And what does Malkovich himself think of all this? Oh ho ho, therein lies the screwiest of mind screws in this mind screw. I mean, he's not aware at first but he does find out. But I shouldn't tell you much more beyond that, lest I spoil the big reveal.

    One aspect I want to make note of that works for the film: the choice of actor for the title. Now, when I first saw the film, I had no idea who John Malkovich was (though back then, I had a limited pool of actors most of which were comedic actors) but I certainly paid attention to him after that. I may not know his entire career and some films I'm going to avoid like the plague (that would be you, Eragon.) but some of the films I've seen him in, I've admired his performance (exception to the rule here being Johnny English. Oh lordy, lordy, lordy was that ever a bad career move). Recently, I watched Burn After Reading and thought it to be his finest work yet.
    But the point I'm trying to make is, John Malkovich is a character actor who usually ends up with supporting roles and thus isn't always the first actor people would think of if asked to name one. Now, if the actor in question was Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, etc, we probably wouldn't have much of a movie because of their jet-setting life or turbulent personal lives. Granted, most of what happens in the film is a fictionalized look at Malkovich but it's believable. Being inside the mind of someone constantly at Hollywood parties or other such functions would quickly turn into a game of "Which Celebrity Can You Spot Now?" And at the risk of coming across as pretentious, I'd prefer someone like John Malkovich as the title focus (though if I was pressed for an alternate choice, I'd instantly say William H. Macy). A bigger name may lead to more people showing up expecting a two hour look-in at the life of their heartthrob and then complaining when confronted by something with an existential bent to it, instead of more topless shots or cameos by other A-listers. Hopefully, many people were also introduced to Malkovich through this film and found that his performance as someone hopelessly confused by the situation (not at first, the first few times in his head we see him do normal things around the house) was magnificent.

    Another small aspect I'm relieved to see: the way Cameron Diaz looks in this movie. Why? Because these days, it's bad enough that she's overexposed (seriously, I swear one day she'll overtake Angelina Jolie or Julia Roberts as Hollywood's queen or whatever title they want to give her) but people seem to play up the image of her as your typical "bubbly bouncy blond" that in her serious films, it's hard to imagine her pulling off a drama (people keep insisting she'll surprise me in My Sister's Keeper. Seeing as how I saw the promo poster and in my eyes, it looks like she's high, I really doubt it) and you get sick of seeing her in romantic comedies because of the same damn expressions she pulls off. Now, this might come off as hatred for her so I want to clarify that I don't hate her, I just think the hype needs to scale back. I loved her in The Mask, she does well in the Shrek franchise and the Charlie's Angels films weren't bad (though if pressed to pick a favourite Angel, it's Dylan but that's another story).
    But anyway, here, she's made to look "ugly" though the term "Hollywood homely" is more fitting. No emphasis on how she can attract the looks of any male in the room, no wacky situations for her to draw attention from any male in the room, here it's like she's been told "We understand you're an actress. So prove it". And boy, does she! She's great as a relatively unsatisfied woman, married to a man with a passion that doesn't exactly bring in the money, with only her pets to provide anything resembling joy in her life.

    And of course, John Cusack delivers another stellar performance with his almost sympathetic puppeteer who just wants to bring his craft to a wider audience. I say almost because I think it's hard to be truly sympathetic to any of the major players here besides Malkovich himself. Now, if the film had been called Being John Cusack and John still played Craig... the mind screw potential just exponentially increases!
  • ScoopOnline
    December 9, 2009
    ScoopOnline
    This was alot fun to watch
  • irisheyes686
    September 25, 2009
    irisheyes686
    Really weird movie. It was ok at first, and then it just got ridiculous. I love Malkovich, but Cusack and Diaz were just annoying.
  • SirPant
    September 3, 2009
    SirPant
    A bizarre but wonderful comedy from Spike Jonze, the king of quirky. This is also the most original film to come out in the last ten years, it's brilliant stuff. Good on John Malkovich too for treading where most A-list actors would have feared to go.
  • Galeocerdo
    August 15, 2009
    Galeocerdo
    The film is a collection of clever ideas that never coalesce. The characters' lives and loves and talents relate in abstract ways, and the story brings them together without actually digging deep enough to make them meaningful. If it does, its insight is never clear. The story it...( read more)self is occasionally inspired and mostly unpredictable, and while I admire the goal of creatively defying convention, the experiment is unsatisfying for lack of a common thread to tie all the weirdness together, to make it not merely interesting but coherent.
  • Ivan6655321
    February 7, 2010
    Ivan6655321
    It was puzzling to see "Being John Malkovich" categorized only as fantasy and comedy on IMDb, because for me, this is a pure human drama, with characters on the verge of romantic despair and self-crises. This film tackles a wide range of themes such as post-modern thinking, exist...( read more)entialist views, and the strange redefinition of love. All of these revolves around a person's mind: That of actor John Malkovich. This is one of those films that belongs to the "love it or hate it" category, and I, for one, belonged to the first, but to those stucked in the limbo of middle ground, give it another try, it really requires multiple viewings to savor all the philosophy, humor, and uniqueness encapsulated in this film. A big mistake for the Academy to not nominate John Malkovich, it could have marked the first time an actor was given an Oscar nod playing himself...well not exactly.
  • SaxPlayer1121
    January 30, 2010
    SaxPlayer1121
    This movie is one of the last great movies of the pas millennium... GREAT movie, in my opinion.
  • KalebGrace
    January 29, 2010
    KalebGrace
    (3.8/5) I think this gets mad props just for some of the uniquely crazy yet hilarious elements it has. Also, rather then going from one gag to the next like so many films do, it just builds them one atop another until you have this bizarre cornucopia of oddities. There are some d...( read more)ull stretches, but that's a minor issue. While this film doesn't personally resonate with me in any particular way, it's too original and interesting to ignore.
  • briegordon
    January 28, 2010
    briegordon
    I love John Malkovich.
  • chrissm1
    January 27, 2010
    chrissm1
    Rarely will you find such a stylish film dealing so well with themes such as existentialism and the human psyche. Dealing with what it would be like to be inside another person's mind is a heady task, not easy to do. Living as someone for a certain amount of time. A humorous vene...( read more)er masks a very thoughtful movie. I mean who hasn't wondered what it would be like to be someone else? Isn't that what cinema is...

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Critic Reviews

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Either Being John Malkovich gets nominated for best picture, or the members of the Academy need portals into their brains. full review

View more Being John Malkovich reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • perfectgentlemn
    July 20, 2008
    perfectgentlemn
    Oh man, this movie was so off the wall, I loved it. John Malkovich is the best too.
  • gaerniak
    February 4, 2007
    gaerniak
    Great paradoxes and black comedy won't keep you from not liking this one.
  • daniboy2099
    December 23, 2006
    daniboy2099
    Great Movie, John Malkovich is Awesome!
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Being John Malkovich Trivia

  • Who played John Malkovich in "Being John Malkovich"?  Answer »
  • Class, Better Off Dead and Being John Malkovich all have which actor in common?  Answer »
  • The Ice Harvest was his Thin Red Line, Serendipity it may have been, but the Grosse Pointe Blank was an Identity away from Being John Malkovich. His High Fidelity lead to Stand By Me, you can Say Anything but he's a Sure Thing or an America's Sweetheart.  Answer »
  • In being John Malkovich, Who Plays Craig?  Answer »
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