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.

Flixster Users

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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Stats: 12,664 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (12,664)


  • September 25, 2009
    Really weird movie. It was ok at first, and then it just got ridiculous. I love Malkovich, but Cusack and Diaz were just annoying.
  • September 3, 2009
    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.
  • August 15, 2009
    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.
  • August 1, 2009
    Review coming soon
  • July 16, 2009
    "Ever wanted to be someone else? Now you can."

    A puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of the movie star, John Malkovich.

    REVIEW

    Wow. It took me quite a while to ...( read more)realize the true genius of this film, which, when seen in it's right light really comes of as a masterpice of modern cinema. This picture bares no resemblance with anything you have seen before, and the very essence of the plot is unique to the very end, despite being a very philosophical issue that man probably has been thinking of/about since the dawn of time. Really, how would you like to be some one else? Whilst on the subject, how would you like to be the award winning actor John Malkovich?

    With astounding performances from a great set of actors, a script to die for, directing that will be remembered as nothing but excellent, and a set of events occuring that is on the edge of Pythonesque in it's amazing humor and wittiness, "Being John Malkovich" really has an aura of perfection like few movies can. To be compared with Citizen Kane, Brazil, Metropolis and other works of genius. I love this film.
  • December 24, 2009
    One of the most creative movies of all time.
  • December 24, 2009
    Time to watch this again
  • December 23, 2009
    Bizarre but very very funny!
  • December 16, 2009
    Frequently during this movie, my mouth was open with astonishment. Other times, I was laughing. I also thought about the concept of existence, about self, about who I am. I thought about how it would be to live through someone else, to be someone else. What about me? Am I someone...( read more) else? Am I really me? In this movie, you get to be John Malkovich for 15 minutes. After that you're spit out (excreted?) by side of the New Jersey turnpike.

    Being John Malkovich can be classified as a mindf*ck movie. It has some wonderfully intriguing ideas to say the very least. It asks you if you've ever wanted to be someone else - the subtitle of the movie. It warns you about control. It demands that you enjoy it... and you will. The acting was great, especially John Cusack. I did not recognize him about 5 -10 minutes into the movie. The bigger surprise is Cameron Diaz, so not blonde and definitely not peppy as she is usually. I said to myself, "I've seen that woman but ...". I just couldn't put my finger on it. I can't say much about the acting skills of Catherine Keener - not that that they're bad - but all I can say is I'd totally develop an unhealthy obsession with her. John Malkovich as a strange-er version of himself was brilliant. Charlie Kaufman has concocted a twisted, beautiful and original script. You hear that a lot but it's just the way it all fits in that leaves you enchanted. The idea are not new - Existentialism 101. But in the nimble hands of Spike Jonze, that's what it is.
  • December 11, 2009
    Quieres ser John Malkovich ?

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