A good movie

I already saw this movie, in fact, I even saw it in the movie theatre when it was released but, since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. I remember it very well the first time I saw it though. It was definitely one of the weirdest movies I have ever seen. Indeed, the concept was just completely surreal and I had never ever seen anything so original before. Obviously, rewatching this movie was a completely different experience though but it was still rewarding, no doubt about it. What mostly bothered me this time was the fact that, in my opinion, the character played by John Cusack was actually a rather vile pathetic loser. I’m surprise that I didn’t pick up on that the first time I saw it but it was probably because, at the time, I was trying to handle all the surreal touches delivered by Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman and I didn’t pay too much attention on his behavior. I mean, the way he flirted so hard on his first day at work with a female colleague while his wife was waiting for him was fairly despicable. Of course, you could say that it was done on purpose and that it was refreshing that they went for such an unlikeable main character but, as a result, I had a rather hard time to engage with the rest of the movie. On the other hand, I wonder if it was the very first movie I ever saw starring Catherine Keener but I don’t think she was ever more gorgeous than in this movie. On top of that, I really loved how she played her character, with a lot of sass and wit. I mean, her character Maxine was actually rather underwritten, especially if you would compare her to Craig and Lotte, but it was quite impressive how much Keener managed to do with this material (Unsurprisingly, she was nominated for an Academy Award at the time). Even more surprising was Cameron Diaz who completely disappeared in her character and probably delivered here the best performance of her career, no less than that. It must have been the best attempt I have seen of de-glamorizing a movie star and Diaz was just so good here, it’s too bad that her character was not really interesting after all. And, of course, you had John Malkovich who apparently refused for a very long time to be involved in this project for some understandable reasons but the guy was pretty much pitch-perfect playing some slightly different version of himself. My favorite scene was when he was discussing his really messed-up situation with Charlie Sheen (back then when the guy was pretty much a sh*t magnet), it was seriously one of the funniest things I have seen in years. Anyway, these 4 characters did end up in the weirdest love square that you could imagine and it didn’t make any sense at all but it was quite entertaining to behold. Back then, when I first saw it, they kinda lost me in the 2nd half when Lester tried to explain the meaning of this portal but, when I rewatched it, it didn’t bother me at all probably because I already knew what would be the conclusion of this really messed-up surreal tale. Anyway, to conclude, it was definitely one of the most original directorial debuts I have seen and it is really worth a look, especially if you are interested in experimental movies.