Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind Reviews

Peerless

This is an intensely moving film. It is uncommon to see a film that has a peerless script, groundbreaking directing and wonderfully gifted acting all in one film.

This is Kaufman’s best script to date, combining the ambitiousness of Adaptation and the mind mapping scenario of Being John Malkovich. It merges both, and transcends them, and is probably the finest script he will ever write. Structurally it is watertight, and multiple viewings confirm this. It is always easy for a film with multiple flashbacks to lose itself, or become confusing, but Eternal manages to find a balance not seen since Memento.

Gondry’s cinematic directorial debut is simply a pleasure to watch. He allows the actors a degree of freedom, which helps produce the remarkable acting that they provide. His unique camerawork suits the script perfectly, and one can only hope him and Kaufman can work together again.

Kate Winslet is shockingly good in this film, and Carey is not far behind; although once or twice he strays into his pre-Truman Show sort of role. The rest of the cast is equally strong, with Tom Wilkinson playing his role with a remarkably subtle charisma.

All of these ingredients together provide a highly unusual and rewarding viewing experience.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Eternal Sunshine Shines!!!

This is the kind of movie Hollywood should be making more of, a film with an actual original story, great characters you can fall in love with, superb soundtrack and no need for overblown CGI effects!!!

Yeah it may be confusing on first viewing with the story's twist and turns, but if you concentrate, what materialises is the most original, heart-warming and unconventional love story around!!

Just imagine if the script had fallen into the wrong directors hands......there'd have been another instantly forgettable cheesy rom-com out there in the world!!!

Eternal Sunshine is not simply a love story, but an amalgalm of genre's, which whilst confusing is also the most rewarding film you'll ever see. I've lost count how many times i've seen it and I still spot something different everytime.

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are exceptional as always,here acting against type which is refreshing to see them getting their teeth into a different kind of role than they're used to. There is also a great supporting cast to back them up.

Eternal Sunshine is by far my favourite movie in recent memory, so if you love your quirky indie films with a twist of absurdity and a touch of genius I urge you to watch this!!!!

One of the Best Films of the Year

I love that we live in a decade when something like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind isn't just made but is also a major film release. Apart from having to go to a box office and say that title in order to order a ticket, its where that ticket is being sold - at a large multiplex near you. On top of 21 Grams, its as though Hollywood, looking back at the many years of film history, through German Existentialism, French New Wave and the Easy Riders of the sixties, feels some kind of continued obligation to present something intelligent and experimental in amongst its more traditional fare. Which is a great, great thing.

Not that everything within is entirely original. A woman takes the rather rash decision to buy in process in which she has all of the memories of her boyfriend wiped from her mind and in pain and spite he does the same. Deliberate memory loss is a genre stock-in trade - and the appearance of someone in their own head or someone elses rationalizing what is happening is something which has turned up in almost every tv show from Star Trek to Buffy -- hell even the Jennifer Lopez clunker The Cell hung on that very idea. But here it's about execution. And whereas in most other cases its been subservient to some greater plot-arc or subplot, here they're asking the rather bigger questions of why memories are important and how they aid in making us who we are and also how important the people we've met and our collective experiences further our understanding of ourselves.

The writer, Charlie Kauffman is probably one of the most exciting writers we have available. Like Rob Shearman, he takes what are relatively unique characters and places them within an extra-ordinary situation, and makes us care for them as they illuminate our own failings. The problem is that I can't imagine a conventional director tackling the material. So it's a good job that Michel Gondry was available. Together with photographer Ellen Kuras (of Personal Velocity) many fantastic images are created - from the bed on the beach to the bookshop in which all the paperbacks suddenly reverse themselves on the shelves, and sets disappearing along with the guys memory.

Its that ability to produce the credible within the incredible which has attracts such acting talent, and impressively makes them want to do such extraordinarily good work. This is the Jim Carrey film that its OK to like if you usually hate his stupid mugging face. Kate Winslet proves yet again that she's not all about corsets, producing a perfect extrapolation of the Holly Golightly-style fabulous person we all know (when are they going to pass a law which says that everyone should see every film she's in?) Tom Wilkinson and Kirsten Dunst are, well, Tom Wilkinson and Kirsten Dunst, it's interesting to see what Elijah Wood has been doing during The Rings and David Cross continues to be 'that guy'. Not a poor performance amongst them.

The problem is that despite all that its not a film for everyone. If you're looking for some something linear yet enjoyable you might not have the best time. But if Fight Club crossed with Vanilla Sky with a dash of Waking Life sounds like a good thing to you, you're going to love it.

[Highly rated reviewer]

I can't stand Jim Carrey...

...except in this film. I think this is because he plays a fairly timid guy and he actually has to act rather than pull annoying faces the whole time. To tell you anything about this film would spoil it. A joy from start to finish, beautiful shot, extremely inventive special effects, great acting, and a top Kauffman script that is as good as Being JM. Can't wait to see what he writes next...

[Highly rated reviewer]

Tiresomely adolescent

If you thought 'Being John Malkovich' was one of the most exciting, innovative and interesting films you've EVER seen, then you will love this film.

If, on the other hand, you have a low boredom threshold for tediously adolescent sarcasm passing for what the Americans call Iron E, then you will, like me, find it hard to bother beyond the halfway point of this uncommonly irritating, self-consciously self-satisfied imitation of a film. How the participating actors, if they're capable of polysyllabic words, can be proud of this dross is beyond me -- perhaps it's the deadening influence of Hollywood that makes people think they're actually clever for foisting this drearily unimaginative nonsense on people.

If you want to see Americans being pleased with themselves for what they see as clever, submit to this unspeakable boredom: otherwise, AVOID.

what can i say that hasn't already been said...

if you have seen a more convincing love story then let me know! from the writer of 'being john malkovich' (a must see film also.. if you haven't that is) and the writer of 'adaptation (a film that made me quite bored) this amazingly inventive story is just perfect. I am a huge Jim Carrey lover with films such as truman show and man on the moon how can you not be! the bottom line is even if you are afraid of this film (as i was) watch it. it may not be what you are looking for or what you expected but it's undeniably special!

Wonderful!

But if you're a Carrey fan, you might be disappointed...

This is very different from the usual Carrey fare, a film that finally proves he can act and not just pull funny faces. It's a love story, science fiction, a character-based comedy, a study of loneliness and an examination of why - perhaps - all relationships are doomed to failure!

It's Kate Winslet's best film in years. The supporting cast are all wonderful. It's the sort of film that will leave you thinking about it long after you've watched it. But if you're just after a madcap Carrey laughathon, then you might want to steer clear.

Recommended if you enjoyed Being John Malkovich (by the same screenwriter) or PT Anderson's Punch Drunk Love.

Over-rated

Quite frankly I found this film boring and over-rated. Normally I go for these types of films - movies with a slightly quirky presence, a little left of centre, a break in the norm - but in all honesty I thought this was like watching a hollywood parody of arthouse. It was like watching a group of a-list celebrities attempting to 'show that they have an arty side', its the film equivalent of Halle Berry coming to the west end to do shakespeare. It works on paper and it certainly draws attention from the media - but it has no substance, no life, no meaning. It just doesn't work. Its empty and shallow and quite simply BORING. If you are about to watch this film, consider that you are about to waste 2 hours of your life that you will never ever get back.

Eternally beautiful, hilarious and true

Ingrates that we are, we've probably grown unappreciatively accustomed to Charlie Kaufman's mind game comedies of late.

Certainly there's more than an echo of the tone set by Being John Malkovich here. But what separates Eternal Sunshine is that it is no mere flight of fantasy, no mere intellectual plaything of a film. It's a stonking great movie, emotional, true, hilarious, joyful success of a film, with not a hair out of place in its dissection of memory, love, motivation and life.

It distils and dissects every corner and corridor of the question it asks itself with precision, purity and pleasure whilst never over egging the pudding. It always finds exactly the right direction to go in at exactly the right time and constantly entertains the audience.

It's been a few years since I've seen a film where I not only don't know how it will end, but am actually keen to find out. The ending didn't disappoint. This will find its way into my DVD collection very, very quickly.

Aaah, my brain

I saw this at the cinema, and dear god what a good film ! Charlie Kaufman is a real genius. A company offers to erase painful memories and the whole film centers around Jim Carrey, who becomes one of their customers. The main thing I noticed is that this is not Carrey playing Carrey. Usually he's just the jokey character who doesn't do much, in this he actually acts, and does it bloody well too.

The film is fantastically done, and beautifully put together. I came out with my brain aching from all the thinking that was going on. It seems to come across as a "romantic comedy", and while it did make me laugh on several occasions, this isn't a lighthearted comedy flick !

I'd recommend this film to anyone who enjoys film. This is Kaufman at his best.