Opinions of a Wolf

Summary:
There aren’t many job openings in Craig Schwartz’s chosen career–puppeteering.  His animal-loving wife suggests he get a job in the meantime, so he finds one filing for an office on the 7 1/2 floor of a building.  There he finds a small door that allows whoever goes inside it to be inside actor John Malkovich’s mind, seeing through his eyes, for 15 minutes before being spit out on the roadside.  He and a woman he works with start selling trips for $200 a visit, but there’s more to being John Malkovich than meets the eye.

Review:
What a trippy movie.  It’s a little bit of a character study of loser Craig and his equally loser wife, and what it does there is excellent.  Plus you get to see Cameron Diaz being frumpy, which is worth the watch in and of itself.

The puppet scenes are simultaneously disturbing and funny, but mostly it’s just amazing that people can make puppets move so intricately.  Although the other characters laugh at Craig for “playing with dolls,” the viewer comes away with a greater respect for it as valid theater.

The plot though is what makes the movie.  It twists and turns taking the characters to unexpected places.  Everything that made me like the movie from a plot stand-point is a spoiler, so I can’t say much beyond that it surprised me, and that takes a lot.

If you enjoy head-trip movies with a touch of gentle social commentary, definitely check this one out.

4 out of 5 stars

Source: Netflix

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