Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

I was searching through Netflix trying to find something different for today to watch when I came across a film that stars legendary comedian Jim Carrey (Dark Crimes) who for a brief period of time started to branch out into different genres than comedy. The one that I chose for today is a film that I have been meaning to see, but never had the chance to in 2004's Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind which was written and directed by Michel Gondry (Be Kind Rewind). The film stars Carrey as introvert Joel Barish who seems to have it good until he finds out that his girlfriend had her memory erased to try and forget about him. Confused as to why she would do that, he undergoes the procedure just to figure out that maybe things were not as good as they seemed. The film also stars Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs) as Clementine Kruczynski, Elijah Wood (The Lord Of The Rings) as Patrick, Mark Ruffalo (Avengers: Endgame) as Stan, Kirsten Dunst (The Virgin Suicides) as Mary, Tom Wilkinson (The Full Monty) as Dr. Mierzwiak, David Cross (Kung Fu Panda 2) as Rob, Jane Adams (Happiness) as Carrie, Thomas Jay Ryan (The Book Of Life) as Frank, Deirdre O'Connell (St. Vincent) as Hollis, and Gerry Robert Byrne (Gangs Of New York) as Train Conductor. 

I have to be honest in saying that I actually enjoyed this film and while it may not be the best film of all time, it has a lot of good moments and it's a little thought provoking too. I mean think about it for a minute, how many times have we gone through bad break ups to the point that the thought of someone makes you sick and you wonder why you can't forget about the person. This film gives you the idea of what if it was possible to erase someone out of your head forever, would you go through the procedure yourself? I often wonder that very thought myself considering the relationship that I find myself in as well, but the moral of the story is don't do it because every experience is a learning tool. I thought Jim Carrey was great in this film playing the opposite of Winslet's character who was eccentric, but it's when they are in his head that the film gets exciting and the both of them shine all the way through. In fact, I thought everyone in the film did a fantastic job from Frodo playing a creep, getting an early glimpse of Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and a good performance from Kirsten Dunst. I loved the cinematography and how they played with the frames during the dream sequences so the special effects team deserves some kudos as well. Like I said, this was overall a pretty good film that features a wild concept and some really good acting so you should check it out on Netflix right now. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.