'Sunshine' continues Kaufman's stereotype

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (a line from Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Aberland") has many positives: Jim Carrey successfully finds the balance between too serious and too funny, Kate Winslet once again validates herself as a substantial actress and Elijah Wood finally gets a chance to get out of that hobbit costume. But there's a negative that is inescapable: screenwriter Charlie Kaufman continues to create his own stereotype, and his films are falling into it right along with him. Kaufman began his career with a screenplay about a door into the mind of John Malkovich ("Being John Malkovich"), which didn't leave much room for exploration, yet it was unique and inventive for a first-timer. A few years later he decides he has writer's block - so he writes a screenplay about how he can't write a screenplay and creates for himself an imaginary twin brother that he asserts is real and tells his buddies Nick Cage and Spike Jonze to tell the media they "have no comment" in an attempt to get people to come see this film about a time in his life that he ultimately fabricated (see "Adaptation"). So with that in mind, let's look at "Eternal Sunshine." As the film opens, the audience meets the introverted Joel Barrish (Jim Carrey) and his new eccentric acquaintance Clementine (Kate Winslet). The two share a train ride together and seem to fall in love at first sight. They go on their first date and are returning to Joel's apartment when the audience is plunged into the film. "Eternal Sunshine" is done in a "Pulp Fiction"-esque nonlinear narrative, which Tarantino pulls off with much more ease; it's almost as if Kaufman and director Michael Gondry said, "Hey, let's do that 'Memento' thing." Joel discovers that Clementine has erased him from her memory, so he goes to the company named Lacuna - which means gap ... witty huh? - to have Dr. Mierzwiak and the crew (Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood and Mark Ruffalo) perform the same procedure for him. The concept of stepping inside someone's memory is an interesting one. The memories are extracted from Joel's head in order from most recent to earliest, which gives the audience a look at the fall and then rise of Joel and Clementine's relationship. But as Clementine is being erased Joel subconsciously realizes that he doesn't want to lose her or inevitably part of himself. As Joel races to hide Clementine in the most suppressed memories inside his brain, the two begin to realize their love and innate need for one another. Kaufman does a wonderful job of leaving the audience with the idea that fate overpowers scientific procedures, but he never explores this theme, or the reasons why the heart causes people to fall in love with the wrong person. Kaufman abandons Joel and Clementine to make the same fatal mistakes, creating a never-ending circular pattern of heartfelt sorrow. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is enjoyable - kind of like a bar trick ... "Man, that's cool" - some might even consider it good. But really, when it's all over you're left with ... you don't really remember. Grade: C+