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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten
Dunst, Tom Wilkinson
Rated R
*****
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is a brilliant masterpiece
from the screenwriter of “Adaptation” and “Being John Malkovich,” two of
my favorite movies. His new movie, directed by Michael Gondry, takes Jim Carrey
into a more dramatic world that reminded me of his wonderful turns in “The
Truman Show” and “Man on the Moon.”
Carrey plays Joel Barish, a man involved in a relationship with
Clementine Kruczynski, a down-to-earth, free-for-all woman who works at Barnes
and Noble. When their relationship goes on the skids, Clementine goes to Lacuna,
Inc., where you can get relationships completely erased from your memory, and
has Joel swiped from her brain. Joel can’t believe she did it, so he goes and
gets her erased too! But as three employees (Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten
Dunst) of Lacuna delete brain cell after brain cell of the relationship from
Joel, he realizes that he doesn’t want her erased any more and he fights back!
I will say, though, that the above is a plot summary – but the plot
doesn’t exactly move in that order. What starts out fun never stops; I got
that same weird and exciting feeling that I got from “Adaptation” on its
first viewing. Jim Carrey is really, really terrific in these drama roles, and
this is the best movie so far this year. (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind” starts in Austin on March 19.)
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