Being John Malkovich
by Catherine Lee

Andy Warhol, caustic guru of celebrity, claimed that in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Being John Malkovich puts a twist to that idea that would wring a wry smile from the wigged one. In Being John Malkovich, everyone can be famous for 15 minutes -- inside the head of John Malkovich.

In the midst of all the fantastical and hilarious moments in Being John Malkovich there is one bit of imagination that caught me up so completely that I knew I didn't just like Being John Malkovich, I was totally, delightfully bamboozled by the filmmakers.

John Malkovich, bravely and amusingly playing himself, has become aware that something unusual is going on. Strange things are happening to him. Under cover of darkness, he follows Maxine (Catherine Keener), a mysterious woman who has insinuated herself into his life, in the hopes of discovering why life is getting increasingly weird.

Maxine goes to the Lester Corp. on the 7 & 1/2 floor of Mertin-Flemmer building in Manhattan. There Malkovich finds a crowd of people waiting in line. He confronts Maxine and her partner Craig (John Cusack) and demands to know what they are up to. Everyone in line seems truly frightened to see him.

Reluctantly they admit that they have discovered a portal, through a small doorway behind a filing cabinet. Those who enter the portal slide down a slippery wet tunnel, and land inside the head of -- John Malkovich. After 15 minutes of experiencing the world through his eyes, the voyeur rider is dumped into a ditch on the side of the New Jersey turnpike. Craig and Maxine are charging people, who are desperate to be somebody else even if only for 15 minutes, a hefty fee to take this psyche bending ride.

Cusack and Keener explain this to Mr. Malkovich who immediately and emphatically says, "I want to do it!" They are not sure this is a good idea. Meanwhile, inside I'm shouting, "No! That's impossible. You can't go inside your own brain. Even if you could, you would go insane!"

Suddenly, I was not only laughing at the movie, but also at myself. I'm perfectly willing to accept the premise of a portal in an office building in Manhattan that leads into someone's brain. But the filmmakers triumph is that in less time than it takes to get back to the city from the ditch on the Jersey turnpike, I had ideas about the rules governing this impossible universe. That's the kind of thrill Being John Malkovich will give you.

Actually, they had me at "hello" --a hilarious hello that introduces us to Craig, a puppeteer who routinely gets punched for giving lewd street performances with his marionettes and can't find a job pursuing his art "in today's wintry economic climate."

Home life for Craig is no more rewarding than his street performances. He's been married to Lotte for ten years. Their relationship is beyond humdrum. She works for a pet store and brings home so many animals, Craig can't begin to keep their names straight. Lotte is played by Cameron Diaz who looks so plain and unattractive it is really creepy. The squalor of Craig and Lotte's apartment is so real, you can almost smell it.

Being John Malkovich assaults the notion of celebrity in many ways, but seeing Cameron Diaz look really dowdy in dirty sweatsuits with horrifically bad hair and an almost perpetually unhappy expression is particularly striking and strange. Charlie Sheen makes a very funny cameo appearance as the tabloid incarnation of himself. (Since Robert Downey, Jr. is serving time, Sheen is at the top of the list of bad boy actors who are in such bad shape, any exposure is good exposure.)

Being John Malkovich is a triumph of imagination. You don't know what's going to happen next or how its going to end. Its unusual, clever, weird and very, very funny. The deadpan delivery and presentation of this surreal tale only adds to the pervasive mood of strangeness. Supporting performances, especially Mark Kay Place and Orson Bean, are marvelously ludicrous. Exploring identity, sexuality and celebrity through characters leading lives of quiet, confused desperation lends an added dimension poignancy to the comedy and craziness.

Bringing this vision to the screen wasn't easy. Spike Jonze, a n award winning director of music videos and commercials and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (This is the first script he has had produced, though now he is incredibly hot) shopped the script for years without success. It was deemed too strange by studio execs. Gradually, Mr. Jonze's growing acclaim as a director loosened some purse strings. Who wouldn't give Jonze money after seeing the video for "Sabotage," surely one of the most imaginative music videos ever shot?

Hollywood is loosening up. This year a number of films have been made that defy the conventions audiences are so use to. Audiences are embracing the strange and the new. Being John Malkovich deliriously continues this trend. The days may be numbered for the kind of studio exec who reportedly asked "Why can't it be Being Tom Cruise?'"

Copyright 2000 Ad Media Inc.