Being John Malkovich is easily the weirdest movie you'll see in a while -- a surreal, twisted comedy that delights and at the same time explores the darker human impulses to control others or be someone else. Whether or not that sounds appealing, the movie's hook is so original, you shouldn't resist checking this one out:

John Cusack plays Craig Schwartz, a frustrated puppeteer married to the surprisingly homely Cameron Diaz (with bad skin and frizzy hair) -- she's a pet store employee who has turned their Manhattan apartment into a menagerie. Unable to earn a living with his craft, Craig takes a job as a file clerk in an office that's somehow wedged between floors of a skyscraper (don't ask). In this grim, fluorescent-lit Twilight Zone of a workplace, he comes upon a tiny door that (here's the hook) acts a portal to the brain of actor John Malkovich. Go through the portal, and for 15 minutes, you can experience life as one of America's most respected character actors.

Luckily for the filmmakers, the actor they got to play the enigmatic John Malkovich is... John Malkovich. Talk about type-casting. Anyway, Craig and his sexy co-worker Maxine (Catherine Keener) are soon charging admission to the portal. Each night they get big crowds and people love it. The mere idea that people would gladly shell out 200-bucks to enter the body of John Malkovich -- usually catching him at a moment when he's doing something pretty mundane like eating breakfast -- is a stitch, in and of itself.

Most visitors to Malkovich are just along for the ride, but Craig, thanks to his puppeteering skills, can actually control Malkovich turning him into a big, flesh and blood marionette. This gives Craig the opportunity to use the actor's body to seduce Maxine, who otherwise wouldn't go near him. Needless to say, a bizarre body-switching, love triangle saga ensues.

Charlie Kaufman's brilliant script, explores all the permutations of the concept, even going so far as to show what would happen if John Malkovich went through the portal into himself. It's a wonderfully absurd movie. But as it tries to bring everything to a tidy conclusion, its last act becomes a bit more conventional -- if a movie about people running around in a celebrity's brain can be considered conventional. There's also a little too much effort devoted to actually trying to provide an explanation for the weird goings-on. While the explanations themselves are funny -- I couldn't help feeling it would be funnier if things had remained a mystery. The film also never takes the opportunity to shed any light on the elusive actor's real personality. It's like Low-Fat Terry Gilliam -- but that's still a lot more inventive than most movies floating around out there these days.

Being John Malkovich is the first feature from director Spike Jonze. Recently, he was seen as a redneck soldier in Three Kings. Before that Jonze was best known as the director behind some of this decade's better music videos -- he gave us, among others, the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" clip, Dinosaur Jr.'s golf game through New York City and Weezer's Forrest Gump-like insertion into Happy Days. Each of his videos had a different style and look, but the one thing they had in common was they were all original. His first feature film is no exception. The movie is filled with off-the-wall moments, and what other director would have the guts to take one of Hollywood's most beautiful actresses, Diaz, and make her look so unappealing?

Cusack, with his usual hangdog look, is perfect as Craig. Keener is wonderful as the icy, controlling, Maxine. And you've got to hand it to Diaz for being so willing to degrade her appearance. Ever since she made her film debut in the summer blockbuster, The Mask, Diaz has had her pick of scripts. But to her credit, she keeps making interesting, quirky choices (remember The Last Supper or A Life Less Ordinary?). Orson Bean as Craig's dirty old boss and Mary Kay Place, as his daffy secretary, round out the solid supporting cast.

Ironically or not, the most interesting performance in the movie belongs to Malkovich. He apparently has no qualms about being made to look incredibly silly -- especially when his character is being controlled by Craig -- and, when required, he manages to do a pretty dead-on impersonation of Cusack. He's the bravest actor in the movie and he's really a sport for playing along. If he hadn't, who knows, maybe we'd be talking about a film called Being Christopher Walken -- but that would be a much different movie, wouldn't it?

(c) Copyright 1999