48/50: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I knew this movie was a bit of a mind bending film. Something that you would need to pay close attention to, however, I still decided to watch it pretty late. It was pretty much the only time I could watch it.

That being said, it was still a very interesting film.

It just goes to prove (like I said in my review of Reign Over Me with Adam Sandler) that some of these comedic performers can actually act.

So, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which was said in a perfect way during the film, a quote from Alexander Pope) stars Jim Carrey stars as Joel Barish, a pretty dull person that seems pretty dull to the world.

As the movie opens you see Barish eyeing a certain young lady, Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) who is waiting for a train. She is the total opposite of Barish's introvert as her extrovert personality is the perfect ying to Barish's yang.

They have a pretty amazing time together as we see, over a few day or weeks (I am not sure of the time table that is shown), but the next thing you see is Barish in his car crying his eyes out. But, what happened?

Well, we find out that they have broken up, and Barish is having a difficult time getting over her. He runs into Kruczynski at her job at a library and tries to speak to her - but something is different, she appears to have no idea who he is.

Staying with his friends, Carrie (Jane Adams) and Rob (David Cross), Barish finds a card that simply reads (paraphrasing here) that Clementine has had Joel Barish erased from her memory and to not mention him in front of her.

Well, Barish decides to see what is up and has a meeting setup with the doctor that did the procedure, Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). Wilkinson explains the procedure and Barish, although pissed that Clementine did it, decides to erase her as well.

This is sort of fun in a way. A new way of showing a back story, as Stan (Mark Ruffalo) comes into Barish's house to erase Clementine from his memory during his sleep. We go through a ton of Barish's memories of his time with Clementine - not really in order, but enough that we see their true feelings for each other and some of the reasons for their breakup.

During this time, Barish is re-living these memories as well. And midway through realizes he doesn't want to let go of Clementine - but what can he do about it now?

At first I was very confused - which may have been because I watched it so late and was tired - but as the movie went on I really started to enjoy it more. And things started to become more and more clear to me as it rolled on.

Some great performances in this film from some great actors. Carrey was amazing out of his normal comedic roles. Ruffalo, though a small role, continues to impress. Kirsten Dunst plays Mary a receptionist in the doctors office, who plays an important role that I will not identify here.

Finally, we have Elijah Wood, who plays Patrick. A leech who also works in the doctors office and I despised in this role - who also plays an important role that I cannot reveal here for those who have not seen it.

It started off a little odd for me, but like I said, I really came around. It looked amazing and the acting was spectacular in all roles.

Grade:

Random Movie: Get Over It

I probably could be posting reviews of about 10 films I have watched since I have sort of taken a sabbatical from the blog writing. However, I finally finished my summer classes and have a few weeks before my master's work starts (if my B remains in my class).

Anyway, I thought I would start yet another quick blog about random movies that my wife and I watch and somewhat love. These are movies that I have watched a ton of times and are usually somewhat old. So, I am calling it Random Movie.

This past weekend we were in a flux about what to watch as nothing was on television and our almost three-year old son was still up. So, we had to watch something somewhat enjoyable, yet also meets the standards of a show that if my son gets sucked into watching won't be asking 'what is that guy doing to that lady?' or 'how come that guys arm just got caught off?'

This week, I rummaged through our DVD collection and tossed in Get Over It, a film that I don't think we have seen in many years.

The film came out in 2001 and stars Ben Foster as Berke Landers and Kirsten Dunst as Kelly Woods. This was Foster's first main star film role before he became a more successful star. Dunst, however, was a lot more well known, but this film was sort of her in between stage before she became, in my opinion, too important. This film was just after Dick, Drop Dead Gorgeous and Bring It On, but right before Spider-Man.

Anyway, the film starts off by showing Landers and his one-true love, Allison McCallister (Melissa Sagemiller), whom he has known since he was a child. (Sagemiller is currently starring in Raising the Bar on TNT, a very underrated law drama). In one of the first scenes, Allison dumps Landers as she feels the sparks are no longer there in their relationship and she needs something new.

Here we find out this isn't going to be the normal film, as when Landers leaves then popular pop star Vitamin C breaks out in "Love Will Keep Us Together".

Moving on, Landers does everything possible (while loathing) to figure out how to get Allison back. Meanwhile his two best friends Felix Woods (Colin Hanks) and Dennis Wallace (Sisqo) desperately try to get him out of his duldrums. (This was one of Hanks' first roles before Orange County. Also, remember Sisqo?).

A former boy band member, Bentley Scrumfield (Shane West) also known as 'Striker', transfers into the high school and immediately becomes infatuated with Allison. The two decide to tryout for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" being put on by Desmond Forrest-Oates (Martin Short).

To try and win back Allison, Landers also try's out for the musical, only to land a very small role. However, a stage accident knocks out one of the leads and in an attempt to humiliate the not-so great acting performance of Landers, 'Striker' nominates him to take his place.

Still trying to win back the heart of his one-true love Allison, Landers accepts the role and Kelly, who also holds a large part in the play, agrees to help him get better - while also slowly falling in love with him.

Of course, the film is cliche, because you already know what is going to happen even though I will not tell you the ending - but it is still pretty fun to watch every once in a while.

Ed Begley, Jr. and Swoosie Kurtz play Landers' parents, who are a pair of sex experts on a local television program - and who basically encourage Landers in anything he ends up doing. Te Woods' family is dogsitting their aunt's dog, who also happens to have a humping problem. And a major hottie named Dora Lynn also happens to be the most accident-prone person in the world.

This film also has small performances by some pretty large stars now. Zoe Saldana, who this sumemr played Uhura in Star Trek and is in James Cameron's Avatar, played Allison's best friend Maggie. Mila Kunis (That 70's Show, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) was Kelly's best friend Basin - who was also in a small love story of her own with Dennis in the background. Carmen Electra and Coolio (haha Coolio) also had a couple cameos in the film.

I enjoy this film because it was basically the start for a handful of great actors (Hanks, Foster, West, Kunis), had a few vanished from existence stars (Vitamin C, Coolio, Sisqo), some pretty funny scenes and music (Dunst actually sang her song) and a very cute Dunst before she got a little too large for her own good.

A great film? Not in a million years. But, it's an easy, quick watch that sort of leaves you somewhat satisfied at the conclusion.