Metrics
Genre:
Romance, Drama, Hollywood
Rating:
8.3/10
Audience:
Adults, older teens. People who don’t mind confusing movies. People who don’t want super happy endings.
Rewatch Time:
You might have to rewatch a couple times, but it’s pretty exciting for most of it. 1h45.
Winner:
Clementine (Kate Winslet)
Review
I quite like the premise of the movie - the ability to erase someone from your memory is definitely a unique idea in regards to romance movies, and I think they pulled it off pretty well. Joel Barrish (Jim Carrey) and Clementine had great chemistry; I didn’t know Jim Carrey was a good dramatic actor, but I do now. There’s a massive supporting cast here, too, with Stan (Mark Ruffalo), Mary (Kirsten Dunst), Patrick (Elijah Wood), Rob (David Cross), and Howard (Tom Wilkinson), and their exciting little characters all help compensate for the lack of action for the leads. That said, the memory jumping structure and direction was outstanding and unique, if a little jarring, and the cuts really helped the pacing of the movie. A lot of the dialogue was great (Nietzsche quotes) and Patrick’s manipulation of the memory-wipe system is also super important in terms of speculative science fiction. Still, Clementine’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl persona shines through and her bright hair and clothes definitely contrast well with Joel’s. There’s some comedy there, lots of drama, and a compelling romance. Definitely an interesting romance movie.
Spoiler Territory
Not really spoiler-sensitive.