response 1 of 278:

Mar 21 03:43 UTC 2004

ETERNAL SUNSET OF THE SPOTLESS MIND-- This is the new movie from 
Charlie Kauffman, who wrote the wonderful movies "Being John Malkovich" 
and "Adaptation".  This one is just as offbeat and original.  Jim 
Carrey and Kate Winslet are this couple who have a two year romance and 
a really bad breakup.  Then she goes to this doctor's office that is 
offering this new procedure-- they can erase the memories of the person 
you broke up with from your mind.  So it can be as if they never 
existed.  So she has the procedure and all of a sudden can't remember 
Jim Carrey.  He can't handle that, so to get back at her, he decides to 
have the procedure too.  Much of the rest of the movie takes place 
inside Jim Carrey's head while he's having the procedure done, slowly 
having all the memories of Winslet and his romance with her erased one 
at a time.  He flashes back to different scenes in his romance with 
Winslet and watches them slowly disappear.  Finally confronting in his 
mind the question of whether he REALLY wants all memories of her to 
disappear from his mind.

I found this to be a very poignant and thought provoking movie.  Surely 
anyone that has had a relationship end really badly has fantasized at 
one time or another about, "I wish this person never existed!  I wish I 
never met this person"  

This flaw in this movie is that this, the central idea, is not 
workable.  Even if you can have this operation and have all your 
memories of a person you were in a failed relationship with erased, you 
can't erase the memories of the people around you of that person (i.e. 
your friends and family).    

Also I don't buy that the ending is realistic, but I won't give that 
away here.  But that aside, this is a really well directed and well 
acted film. I think it might be both Carrey and Winslet's best work.  I 
give Charlie Kauffman credit for again coming up with a really 
distinctiev idea for a movie.  On the whole, I recommend this movie.