This is a delicous romantic comedy of the craziest kind. Written by Charlie Kaufman, the enigma behind "Being John Malkovich", and directed by Micheal Gondry (a man who wouldn't know a real camera if it hit him in the face) this is a tale of identity, memory, love, and - ultimately - regret.
Joel (Jim Carrey) is an average man doing average things in an average life, and in the opening scene we watch him ditch that average life, spontaneously, for the beach in winter. There he meets a blue-haired beauty named Clementine (Kate Winslet) and they make a connection. A connection that is almost breath taking it's so sweet and powerful. The audience may just wonder if they've witnessed love at first sight. Flash forward: Joel is depressed (why?) and he gets a letter (what?) that says Clementine has had her memories of him erased (how?!). So guess what Joel does? Goes and gets an appointment to have the exact same treatment from a crazy-ish doctor with an office like a dentists. When asked about the procedure by Joel the good doctor says: "well, it's technically brain damage". Joel goes home and takes a sedative. Soon two of the doctor's employees (Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood) come over and set up the machine that will erase Clementine from Joel's mind.
Suddenly we are in Joel's mind.....or are we? We see him run through memory after memory about Clementine and his relationship with her, eventually figuring out he never should have left her (or whatever it is that happened). He clings to memories, but like we all know: nothing gold can stay. The cast is acting from a pure energetic high of enjoyment: they could never be happier to just be acting. Writer Charlie Kauffman doubles over himself to make the movie work, its maze cinema at it's best. But it's also embued with a bittersweet sensibility for relationships and how even the best love can burn itself out to quickly.
This movie is laugh-out-loud funny at times and when you finally connect the dots....well let me just say that the effect is both delirously great and spine chilling.
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