1999, R, 112 minutes

When the actor John Malkovich sat down and picked up a script with the title "Being John Malkovich," he thought it was a joke. It turned out to be a 120 + page joke -- and a brilliant joke at that. All of the attention surrounding this film has been about how quirky and offbeat it is, but the truth of the matter is that no good film can survive on strangeness alone. Fortunately, Being John Malkovich is a film that's a whole lot deeper than its surface value.

Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a struggling puppeteer who isn't happy with his life. Basically abandoning his hopes and dreams, he applies for a job at Lester Corp, which is a filing company located on the 7 1/2 floor of a large office building. The entire floor is midget-sized: the doors, the chairs, and even the ceiling. And this is the odd world that screenwriter Charlie Kaufman engulfs us in, which we accept as our reality. Craig quickly falls in love with an insensitive but attractive woman at work named Maxine (Catherine Keener), but there are two problems in his pursuit to obtain her. 1 -- Maxine won't give him the time of day, and 2 -- Craig is also married to a woman named Lotte (Cameron Diaz), his frizzy-haired, animal-loving wife. So life goes on until one day at work Craig mistakenly discovers a small door, which turns out to be a portal into the mind of the actor John Malkovich. This discovery develops into a tale of obsession and greed, taking us through an endless number of hilarious events.

What I liked best about this film was that it was both original and funny, but it also contained a meaningful subtext about perception and identity. While some movies try to shove a theme down your throat, Being John Malkovich merely tucked it beneath an entertaining and surreal story. There was obviously a lot going on beneath the surface, but the story never stopped to make you think about it until it was over.

Charlie Kaufman has received plenty of attention for his screenplay (more than most writers), but I think it's also important to give director Spike Jonze his share of credit. Jonze didn't do what a lot of directors would have, which is take over the story by using fancy camera angles and distracting cuts; he simply sat back and let the quality of the story do the work. Hopefully he will be acknowledged for his ability to restrain himself, which is quite an impressive feat for a first-time director.

Being John Malkovich could've been just a so-so movie with the wrong set of actors, but fortunately the casting was superb. John Cusack and Cameron Diaz give solid performances, proving they are both capable of taking on an endless range of characters. Catherine Keener seems to have finally discovered a role that she's perfect for, and John Malkovich has the most intriguing and difficult performance of them all. No, he is not playing himself; I cringe when I hear people say that. Malkovich is playing the actor John Malkovich -- the public persona -- and he really goes all out. It took a lot of guts for Malkovich to offer his name to this movie, not to mention partaking in the mockery of his own image.

On one level Being John Malkovich is a moving and provocative film full of rich characters, and on another level it's merely a bizarre and offbeat laugh-fest. What this means is that nearly everyone can enjoy it, unless of course you're looking for some cute little family movie. This is certainly one of the best films of 1999 and I'd recommend it to just about anyone.