4 out of 5

Director: Michel Gondry

Mm. Well, after years of avoiding this movie (because when everyone tells you youll like it…) its viewing finally came to pass. And what was my lingering doubt before I saw this? That it was miscast. Indeed it twas. So: Eternal Sunshine. This movie succeeds due to its wonderful editing and relate-able story. The basic premise, though fluffed with sci-fi tech, is familiar: straight-laced boy (Carrey) meets crazy girl (Winslet) and we get to follow their whirlwind relationship through ups and downs and a breakup. Where it gets bumped into unique territory is with a company called La Cuna, which enables targeted erasing of memories. So when girl no longer wants to remember boy, she erases that memory. Boy thus no longer wants to remember girl, and so he erases that memory… discovering along the way, however, that there were so many good times lumped in with the bad that maybe hes changed his mind. The movie mainly follows Carrey through his recollection of memories as he realizes that hed rather not erase this important figure in his life. As mentioned, the editing is perfect here – our slow acceptance of why these two are together is roped along perfectly. The mis-casting that I mentioned… the whole movie had a feeling of trying a bit too hard (thanks to Gondrys overly pretty visuals and Jon Brion soundtrack) and something about Carreys and Winslets roles gave off the same feeling. Im glad the characters were older, and they were balanced properly, everything was just a dash outside of reality (not the plot – the emotions as portrayed by atmosphere and characters) that I never got swept up in things. But obviously since Im still giving it four stars, it was an immensely rewarding viewing, just not as impactful as Id hoped.