However, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind stands out for me, not only among his films, but of all cinema of this decade. If you avoided it, or watched it with reservations, I urge you to re-visit it if you have the chance.

By the end, I was not only glad I stayed, I was kind of itching to see it again.

The NY Observer said it was possibly the worst movie EVER.

Just sayin'.

3 I thought Sunshine was more personal, efficient, and profound than Malkovich, though the burst of unexpected imagination necesssary to drive Malkovich was incredible.

I tend to agree with others that say that Kaufman needs a director that can counteract some of his worst tendencies (Michael Gondry most successfully in the case of Sunshine). So I'm a bit skittish about the latest one.

FWIW, I really like Dargis as well, but I found it telling that J. Hoberman didn't review Synechdoche in the Voice (when he passes on a high profile movie like this one, it's not a good sign). As it turns out, in his Cannes roundup several months back, he said it was the most tedious movie he saw at Cannes, and that it retroactively made other bad movies he saw appear more watchable by comparison. Yikes.

i suppose i'll go see it, but kaufman's really hit (being JM) or miss (adaptation, jesus i loathed that movie) for me