Carrey and Winslet are an “odd couple”, to be sure, but both seem right at home here. Carrey and Winslet both turn in stellar performances here.
But the flip side to this coin is this: do all memories, good and bad, serve a greater purpose? That’s to say: what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger? There’s no right answer, of course, but the movie stimulates the viewer to ponder the situation and that’s the point. Assuming the technology was readily available to have someone or something in your life erased – like it never existed – would you do it? It provides an easy escape for someone who’s just been dumped, fired or lost that special someone. The film raises a moral question of the sanctity of our own memories. He wants to squirrel away some of the memories as he starts to discover (on a subconscious level, no less) although things ended badly, he still wants his memories of Clementine. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and his team (played by Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Kirsten Dunst) go to work on erasing his memories of Clementine only for Joel to discover that he doesn’t want to have the procedure done. Joel finds out that he’s been erased from Clementine’s memory (so to her, “they” never happened) and to exact revenge he decides to have the same thing done. that specializes in just that – erasing memories of loved and/or lost ones. You see, there’s a company called Lacuna, Inc. The two hit it off in their own way and the next thing we know, Joel has been informed that she’s had him “erased” from her memory. Ditching work one day, he heads off to Montack Beach (in February no less) only to meet a stranger by the name of Clementine (Kate Winslet). Carrey plays Joel Barrish, an introvert who communicates better by scribbling in his journal that with the power of the spoken word. The film doesn’t really follow a linear timeline, it doubles back on itself a few times not to keep us guessing, but to show what’s going on inside the mind of one seemingly normal man. What’s that old saying…”Dying is easy, comedy is hard”? Tell that to Jim Carrey. There must be something inherent in Carrey that makes him want to make us cry, because he can certainly make us laugh. Then again, he can don a green suit and become “The Grinch” or even play God with little help from movie special effects.
Carrey has shown his acting chops in films like “The Truman Show”, “Man in the Moon” and to a lesser extent in “The Majestic” to much acclaim. Like Robin Williams before him, he’s a great comedic actor who can also do drama, but hasn’t ever received a nod by the Academy (even a nomination) that he years for so badly. More importantly, it stars Jim Carrey in a return to his more dramatic side. Another brainchild of Writer Charlie Kaufman is “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Kaufman has given us some of the more thought-provoking movies in the last few years like “Being John Malkovich”, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” and “Adaptation”.