Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 583 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 541 out of 583
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 583
  3. Negative: 35 out of 583

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  1. StanS
    Jan 9, 2008
    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.
  2. HowardJ.
    Oct 22, 2004
    2
    An interesting conceit that probably reads a lot better than it views. winslet and carrey are both excellent in a confusing mish-mash of a film.
  3. AndrewL.
    Mar 25, 2004
    1
    This seems to be a movie that you love or you hate. I think it was a mess of a movie and a bad "Vanilla Sky" feel to it. The plot was poor and the characters drudged through the mundane script. I think the target audience is film majors that hang out at Starbucks every night and like to talk about how intellectual they are. Everyone else... don't waste your time. It would be hard to find a movie out now that is worse than this one.… Expand
  4. JasonT.
    Mar 27, 2004
    0
    Stupid movie. I didn't get it.
  5. LisaL.
    Apr 11, 2004
    1
    Do not waste your time! This movie is incredibly boring and felt like it would never end. I don't understand how anyone could give this movie a 10! Normally I enjoy these types of films, but this one is overrated. The characters are not interesting, the plot trudges along verrrrrrry slowly, and the parts that were supposed to be funny were not.
  6. TyS.
    Feb 24, 2005
    2
    I am completely with Jen M on this one. Waste of my good time and totally forgettable.
  7. Tyler
    Feb 4, 2005
    0
    I am in the minority on this but I thought that this movie sucked. It reminded me a bit of vanilla sky but I did't understand the ending and here is another reason to hate Elijah Wood. It was just a stupid movie and Kate Winslet does not deserve best actress for it.
  8. CoreyC.
    Apr 1, 2005
    3
    I expected so much more from Gondry and Kaufman. This, indeed, may have been a case of complete over-hype by everyone I know-- but I still tried to detach myself from those ideas when I watched. Amazingly, it refused to play along in the best-movie-ever-game and simply came across as a flat, placid, and emotional-vacuum of eye-candy and predictablity. Where is John Malkovich or The White Stripes to bring out the previously displayed talents of these two when you need them?… Expand
  9. RobC.
    Sep 20, 2008
    1
    Boring is the main word. So much "why should I care" moments and "Oh my God when is the ending coming" times as well. Another of the thousand times when Hollywood tries to impress us with "art" instead of entertainment. Movies that are worse than this are anything made by Wes Anderson.
  10. JoeS.
    Oct 18, 2004
    0
    This movie is one big confusing mess that is impossible to follow and to understand. Clearly one of the worst movies of all time. Don't waste your money renting or buying this one.
  11. AnthonyC.
    Mar 21, 2004
    0
    Wow did this movie suck. I walked in thinking it would be the cinematic experience of my life from all the great reviews I read. Guess what? IT SUCKS!!!! I felt absolutely nothing for the characters. I wanted them all to forget each other so they movie would END! Carrey, Carrey, Carrey, when are you going to learn that you cannot act at all. Go back to comedy and make us all happy. All the other performances felt forced and fake. Whoever tells you this movie is complex is a totaly dumba$$. I figured it out just by seeing the trailer and the commercials. DON'T SEE THIS AT ANY COST.… Expand
  12. MartyC.
    Mar 24, 2004
    1
    I would give this movie a 0 but I do feel Jim Carey's performance was good. Now let my urge you not to waste your time or money. There are so many things that you can do with 108 minutes of your life. I have never written a review on here before but am taking the time knowing that if I can keep just one person from this drugery I have done a good thing. The story is absurd. I kept waiting and waiting for something that would make me like this movie. The movie is about erasing memories. If I could erase one memory it would be the memory of this dumb movie. PLEASE STAY AWAY!… Expand
  13. DemarioM.
    Apr 12, 2004
    0
    People are so incredibly stupid. This movie makes you feel nothing at all. It's the first movie i've ever seen that didn't make me feel something. First, The characters are not likeable. The plot can be confusing at times. Most of all this movie is just a bore. I thought the whole point of going to the movies was to be entertained. I love Jim Carrey but not even Jesus himself could save this movie!… Expand
  14. DonW.
    Apr 15, 2004
    3
    The best thing about the movie is I don't need my memory erased to forget about it or the title. It's so repetitive that it's hard to care about the characters or the relationship that endlessly repeats the first few days of start. Forget About It should have been the title.
  15. SteveG.
    Apr 30, 2004
    2
    I've only ever walked out of two films and this was the second. Pretty bad for a film I really looked forward to seeing, though I did grit my teeth for an hour in the vain hope it would get better. Allow me to list the things I disliked. An incredibly irritating score with harsh sound effects that were no doubt intend to distract and did so perfectly; characters who were either uninteresting, paranoid or plain creepy; an uninspiring and chemistry-free relationship between a dull man and a rather nasty and self-centered woman (tell me... they wanted each other again?) and above all pretentious and literally shaky camera work. Part of me would like to know if ended as pathetically as it promised, but I guess I'll never know. Believe me, here were a bunch of people I cared not one iota for. Perhaps there could be a sequel: Eternal Pain of the Psuedo-Arthouse Mind.… Expand
  16. PekkaP.
    Mar 10, 2005
    0
    Utter crap! The second worst movie I've ever seen from the most overrated screenwriter in history. I'd rather sit two hours naked on an ants' nest than watch this again.
  17. Andy
    Mar 30, 2005
    1
    I didn't get it. yeah it's different but better or great or deserving of an award....NOT!!!
  18. JamesB.
    Apr 12, 2005
    2
    Boring, slow, awful plot. How this was 'aclaimed' I will never know.
  19. BlisterfishCafe
    Sep 14, 2005
    0
    Simply...the second worse film I have ever seen. How is it possible so many people love this film?!?!
  20. RichardG.
    Mar 21, 2004
    1
    Well, I have to give this movie a 1 to lower the score, its really worth a 5 at best. I think this movie is well directed and gives audiences a new experience, but face it, the movie is very tedious, some parts of the movie are absurd, the movie never answers any of the viewers questions and it has a very very weak ending. Jim Carey was very good as "Joel" but this movie is lacking a certain "thing" that would qualify it as a 10. Artsy individuals would like this movie, great camera work too.… Expand
  21. StephB.
    May 21, 2004
    1
    This is one of THEE most rubbish, boringest films i have ever seen, I almost got up to leave, and the story line was all over the place, it was hard to follow, confusing and just plain stupid, one minute he knows her and the next they dont , then they hate each other then they love each other, God!!! what was it all about, even the girls down from us looked at us and shook their heads and laughed it was so weird, The only amusing part was when he was a baby again, but thats it completely a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!!!!!! my title for the film - "Eternal dullness and a waste of time"… Collapse
  22. JenM.
    Feb 22, 2005
    2
    Let me start by saying that all of my friends loved this movie and I am a HUGE Michel Gondry fan. Having said that this is the worst movie I have ever seen. I gave this a 2 simply for the innovative directing in parts. The characters were completely intolerable and the story line was so predictable and tedious that I walked out about 10 minutes before the end and had someone fill me in on the 'yawn' end. Jim Carrey has no business trying to be a heart felt poet type character and Kate Winslet was annoying and trendily stupid. This film is garbage and I wonder what the hell Michel Gondry is doing wasting his talents on this.… Expand
  23. BerniceM.
    Aug 12, 2005
    3
    This movie was utterly stupid.
  24. Fitzy
    Dec 28, 2004
    0
    Total piece of $h*t. Woefully inept, disjointed pseudo intellectual psycho babble masquarading as a "film".

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 41 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 41
  3. Negative: 0 out of 41
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    100
    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.
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  2. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    100
    A wildly imaginative, hugely entertaining tour de force that asks big questions about life and love and fate while never ceasing to fully engage the viewer.
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  3. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    Chases so many ideas that it threatens to spin out of control. But with our multiplexes stuffed with toxic Hollywood formula, it's a gift to find a ballsy movie that thinks it can do anything, and damn near does.
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