I purchased this film with high hopes, being an aficionado of off-kilter movies. And with a plot like Being John Malkovich's, how could I go wrong? A downtrodden puppeteer, working on floor seven and half of an office building, discovers a portal into the mind of John Malkovich. Even with such an intriguing premise, though, I felt this movie struck out (I am in the minority in feeling this).

Let me first say that all of the primary actors performed brilliantly. Cusack played both the melancholy and crazy sides of Craig the puppeteer quite well, and Diaz really shone as his quirky wife. One of the best performances was by Malkovich himself, lampooning himself quite handily and playing the different "inhabitants" of his body as adroitly as he played his own self.

However, even these brilliant performances don't save the movie. Fantasy is a difficult genre to conduct successfully, contrary to popular belief. One of the unwritten rules of fantasy is that, no matter how fantastical the story, it needs to be internally consistent. The film fails miserably in this aspect. Sometimes only a single person can inhabit Malkovich, sometimes multiple people. Far-fetched explanations about the subconscious and the "power of the puppeteer" attempt to account for this discrepancy but ultimately prove insufficient, if you follow them through to their logical conclusions. The writer also throws in several random occurrences with no apparent connection to the idea of the portal. Why, for instance, does Malkovich end up in a world full of people who look like him when he goes through the portal? Is this some play on his ego? On the nature of how we see the world? I really don't know, and I don't think these inconsistencies were meant to be "things to make you go hmm," as in other films.

And I suppose that's really what really bothered about Being John Makovich. The idea is a fascinating one, brilliant even, with so much potential. But that potential is squandered for cheap laughs: a lesbian affair through Malkovich's body, chimpanzee childhood traumas, lecherous old men, etc. Instead of harnessing the inherent ironic humor in the idea and making this a thought-provoking movie, the writers used the idea to string together several cheesy laughs characteristic of other Hollywood comedies.

As it is, I give Malkovich a star for good acting and another star for a nice idea. For a real five-star, absurd, ironic, and absolutely fascinating comedy, I recommend Fight Club.

I didn't find this to be one of Al's best albums. Although it does have its shining stars, I didn't think it was as consistently funny as some of his other albums. Here's a song by song review:

Couch Potato
Weird Al singing rap (Eminem's "Lose Yourself") is funny in itself. It has clever, catchy rhymes, but unfortunately he recycles his tv theme and doesn't do it as well as he does is other tv songs (notably "Jerry Springer" from Running With Scissors). I have to admit, though, that the whole song is worth the effort for the line "Next week on Fox watch lions eat christians." So true!

Hardware Store
I actually found this to be one of Al's better original works. How many of us haven't met someone who's turned on by hardware and power tools? However, I think what really makes this song stand out is the music itself. Great melody and good vocals. It demonstrates what a great musician Al is.

Trash Day
I'm not a big fan of Al's gross out songs, and combined with a crummy song (Nelly's "Hot in Here"), this one's worse than usual. I think "Livin' in the Fridge" is a much more effective parody in the same style

Party at the Leper Colony
Demonstrates Al's talent for puns, but it's definitely middle school humor at best. I can't help but think that poking fun at leprosy patients is kind of like making fun of AIDS victims . . .

Angry White Boy Polka
This is actually one of my favorite of Al's Polka medleys. Although he doesn't use as many "mainstream" songs as his others, the satire is a bit more biting. Aptly demonstrates how ridiculous most of the angry white boy music is (Limp Bizkit, Eminem, etc.). Even if you don't recognize the songs, the words together with a polka beat are hilarious. Imagine the line "I don't think you trust in my self-righteous suicide" sung as polka.

Wanna B Ur Lovr
Great premise, poor delivery. Basically a compilation of REALLY bad pick-up lines. The flow was rather poor, though. A bit racier than Al's usual stuff.

A Complicated Song
I found this song to be both an entertaining parody and a brilliant satire. Al mocks the random nature of Lavigne's original by simply using words that rhyme with "complicated." Pretty funny.

Why Does This Always Happen to Me
Like "Wanna B Ur Lovr," this song doesn't flow particularly well, but the premise is funny. The song is basicallty about how egotistical people are. Tragedies are such an inconvenience, after all.

Ode to a Superhero
Knockoff of "The Saga Begins," and not nearly as good. Basically the plot of the movie Spiderman done to Billy Joel's "Piano Man." There are so many great topics Al could have used to parody that song, but what he chose was kind of a copout.

Bob
This song is brilliant! The song is composed completely of palindrones. Al sounds exactly like Bob Dylan, and the song is just as incomprehensible as a Dylan original.

E-Bay
I think this is one of the best songs on the album. The original ("I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys) was so obnoxiously catchy, but now there are much better words to have stuck in your head. Al's knowledge of E-Bay is uncanny. He must be an E-Bay fiend to know this much about it. E-Bay should use this song in its advertisements.

Genius in France
From what I've read, this song is about Jerry Lewis and a parody of Frank Zappa. Being a fan of neither, I didn't find it particularly compelling. It is MUCH too long (over 8 minutes) and mainly just bashes the French. I figured Al would have been above all the silly war politics, but alas, such was not the case.

So is the album still worth getting. Absolutley! Al is always good for a laugh when you need to wind down, but if you're just going to buy one Al CD, I wouldn't recommend this one.