I have mixed feelings about Charlie Kaufman’s work. I loved Adaptation, but consider Being John Malkovich to be one of the worst movies of all time. I’ve seen all of his movies, and I’ll probably keep watching, but I hope they get better.

He can be terribly entertaining, but usually he’s wasting time trying to be profound. I understood Synecdoche, NY just fine, but I didn’t really like it. It’s not that the idea isn’t worth exploring, but it can be done in better ways. Aside from a scene early on in the movie, Synecdoche was not entertaining. I think many people will hate the movie simply because they don’t understand it, which is a perfectly valid reason to dislike it. It’s not easily understood, but I don’t think that understanding it makes it much better.

It could just be that I’m in a foul mood and would have liked it better if I were happier at the moment, but I’m not and didn’t. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s bothered by non-coherent plots. Many people (Kelsey, for instance, and possibly Ben) will think it’s absolutely brilliant. As for me, I think Charlie Kaufman is a little too self-absorbed.