Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 41 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 593 Ratings

  • Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson
  • Summary: Joel (Carrey) is stunned to discover that his girlfriend Clementine (Winslet) has had her memories of their tumultuous relationship erased. Out of desperation, he contacts the inventor of the process, Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Wilkinson), to have Clementine removed from his own memory. But as Joel's memories progressively disappear, he begins to rediscover his love for Clementine. (Focus Features) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 41
  2. Negative: 0 out of 41
  1. Not only (Kaufman's) most accessible and romantic screenplay, it's his most complete. The third act works like a charm and pulls all his themes, characters and conflicts together beautifully.
  2. A complicated story that demands your full attention; Mr. Gondry unfolds it at a mind-bending pace. This alone makes it a hugely refreshing respite from ordinary multiplex fare.
  3. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    80
    For once, Carrey is more than merely tolerable. He's actually good, and the film that ebbs and flows around him is something you won't soon forget.
  4. 50
    Wants to be a bittersweet comedy about erotic loss and memory loss. But it doesn't have the heart or brain.

See all 41 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 24 out of 273
  1. JasonJ.
    9
    I had a chance to see this movie again in 2008 for only the second time. I saw it in the theater when it premiered 4 years earlier. What a piece of art! This movie goes deep into the heart of romantic love. It's not a love story, it's an internal examination of what love does to your mind. It's painful to watch at times because it dissects what most of us try to repress most of the time. But, if for just one moment, you allow yourself to "get into" this movie, you will have a deeper experience than you've ever had while viewing movie. Darwinian thought (as well as just about any religious thought) tells us that procreation is perhaps the most important of our human functions. Romantic love leads us in that venture and this movie delves into the most sensitive areas of that process. This film could have easily felt pseudointellectual had it not been for the way the film was shot. It looks like it was filmed inside someone's head - clausterphobic, impressionistic, etc. - all in the right balance. Expand
  2. 8
    There is no way anyone could deny just how unique, clever, and original this movie is. The story and the characters are just so fresh, and while I don't think the movie is as ingenious as everyone proclaims, it is certainly a fine piece of cinema. Expand
  3. JonD.
    7
    This had a very good story but it was too long, seeing all the different memories just got tedious, and predictable. I didn't like the ending, although I understood it, i think if the middle was shortened and the ending was lengthened it would've been better. Worth seeing but definitely not amazing. Expand
  4. StanS
    2
    yes it was a very different and artsy and yes i does have a fairly important message at the end which is rather hackneyed but still even if i concede all that it still isn't a good movie, because a good movie entertains and this never really entertained me. I never wondered what happened in the beginning, and when i found out it was anti-climactic even though i didn't care. Expand

See all 273 User Reviews

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