The College Perspective by Lindsey

If you’re looking for a nice date night movie, steer clear of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Directed by Michel Gondry and released in 2004, Eternal Sunshine is a science fiction/drama/romance focusing on a failed relationship between two average people. Rated R for language, sex, and drug content, the movie stars Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, and Kirsten Dunst.

Clementine, played by Kate Winslet, eventually decides to go through a procedure to erase her memory of Jim Carrey’s character, Joel after their relationship falls apart. When Joel learns of this, he is devastated but wants to go through the procedure as well. What happens next is pure chaos.

After the first twenty minutes, the movie becomes a confusing jumble of fast-paced hysteria until the very end a little under two hours later. Between the mumbled dialogue and the emotionally stunted performance unlike Jim Carrey’s other work, it’s a mess with a philosophical message.

Jim Carrey works hard to mumble his way through the script, stopping to say such brilliant lines as “I hate sand. It’s just tiny little rocks.” Because of the passive nature of his character, Joel and Clementine’s arguments seem forced, random, and absolutely fake. It’s hard to understand why they became a couple in the first place.

Unfortunately, the plot focus shift in the middle of the movie to another couple throws a wrench in caring about what happens to Joel. We are forced to acknowledge the second relationship while Joel’s memories fly faster and faster on the screen, almost too fast to comprehend what’s really going on.

To add to the mess, the documentary style, fast-paced, shaky camera work makes a person dizzy and constantly confused. Every time the camera switches to a new scene you have to work to adjust to the new reality, further adding to the confusion of the two story arcs and their consequences. This is likely intentional but ends with a confused, nauseous viewer.

There are some affectionate and well-done scenes, like the time Joel and Clementine lay on the ice and bond for the first time. It has the classic elements of a romantic movie and intrigue for the relationship to come.

Despite this, the dialogue doesn’t do much to bring the story forward, instead used as a plot device to bring attention to the title of the movie. Kirsten Dunst’s character Mary mentions several philosophers and their works during the film to bring people’s attention to the message of the film, hitting us over the head in the final ten minutes with her moral dilemmas.

Even if you are a die-hard science fiction fan, you’ll want to erase all memory of this movie. Do yourself a favor and skip it altogether.