benjyboom Review of Being John Malkovich

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Quite fun for a long time, but a bit unsatisfying of an ending

[6/10 · 9 September 2020]

The characters and their world were set up very well in the first half of the film, and the actual portal and what it does to Malkovich are great fun and lead to some good scenes. The actual plot with the cult, however, was a bit uninteresting and not nearly as fun as Malkovich and the other three leads. I also believe the ending was a bit off. Why exactly does Maxine get a happy ending? While not quite as awful as Craig, I don't think she was very good, but I suppose she just has a rapid change of heart we didn't get to see? And why does Craig lose the ability to puppeteer the person's body? A bit confusing and unsatisfying, but not enough to take away from the movie's stronger aspects.