NChri

After a brilliant opening sequence, the film lapses into TV movie-of-the-week mode, offering a paint-by-numbers script that does little to delve into what made Kaufman tick (his motivations for some of his more outlandish behavior go completely unexplained). It also didn't do a very thorough job of explaining his celebrity--his standup routines seem lame and stilted, leaving many people in at least my screening audience to wonder what ever made him popular in the first place. His club audiences in the movie, however, roar with atrociously exaggerated delight over every little facial nuance of his. It just doesn't work.

Furthermore, the movie lacked any real visual flair, which was a real surprise coming from a talent like Forman. While Carrey did an admirable job of capturing Kaufman's mannerisms, trust me when I say you've seen this schmaltz before on NBC and CBS. Pointless flashbacks. Rote relationship conflicts. "I'm an underappreciated genius." Ugh. The final frames of the film leave the audience wondering what this guy EVER did to warrant being labeled a "comedian," outside of a somewhat memorable (though minor) character on "Taxi".

I have no quibbles about the cinematography in this film--certainly one of the most beautiful, striking collection of images I have ever seen in a theater. Unfortunately, this art gallery tries to be a movie, and the audience is left to puzzle over "profound" (I can't emphasize those quotes enough) thoughts of grunts who probably wanted nothing more than to go home. But no, we get tedious voice overs where uneducated soldiers think things like "I will wait for you across the dark waters, yadda, yadda, yadda, etc., etc." There is nothing to "understand" or "get" about this film. The characters are flat, the story rambles and rambles and rambles and rambles and yet manages to go nowhere for the last hour, the cameos are distracting and unnecessary, but hey, the cinematography was great. Even still, Malick's shoddy direction managed to make the few action sequences dull and uninvolving.

This movie was basically a one-joke gag that was beaten relentlessly into the viewer with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Too many sophomoric sight gags (yes, we're supposed to buy the fact that Janeane Garofalo speaking in a higher-pitched voice sounds just like Uma, thus--once again--fooling the male lead), and never mind what was absolutely the dumbest love scene I have ever had the misfortune to see. Nothing like a little mutual phone sex to warm the heart--I was truly flabbergasted to see the filmmakers actually try to pass off this exercise in, um ..., "self-pleasure" as a stepping stone toward building the relationship between the two leads. Please pass this one by. You'll regret every minute of the time you spend with it.