1999, 1 hr 52 min., Rated R. Dir: Spike Jonze. Cast: John Cusak (Craig Scwartz), Cameron Diaz (Lotte Schwartz), Catherine Keener (Maxine), John Malkovich.

To be or not to be John Malkovich, that is the question. From that concept comes one of the most intriguing and original movies I've ever seen.

Upon leaving the theater, Being John Malkovich left me with a number of adjectives, all positive: original, inventive, creative, unique, funny, quirky, cool, eccentric, hip, outlandish, exotic, etc. This film now gives Run Lola Run a close contest for "coolest" film of the year.

First-time director Spike Jonze now has a lot to live up to in the future after creating such a near-masterpiece of filmmaking. Jonze made a name for himself by directing music videos, namely The Beastie Boys' recent fantastic four-minute projects. Sure, a two-hour motion picture is a different animal but Jonze manages to transfer his vision successfully.

The premise for the movie had to be born of a pot-smoking fantasy while watching "Alice in Wonderland" one too many times: Craig Schwartz (John Cusak) finds a knee-high door in his office on the 7 1/2 floor that leads to a portal, whereupon you are sucked into the conscious of actor John Malkovich. Schwartz, a puppeteer, discovers that through practice he can learn to control Malkovich's movements and, in essence, lead both their lives in a new direction.

John Cusak and Cameron Diaz dress down beautifully, with the most unkempt hair and ungroomed features of any couple since Loana (Racquel Welch) and Tumak (John Richardson) lived in caves and fought off dinosaurs in One Million Years B.C.. The fine talents of Cusak and Diaz pull off the ruse nicely, and show off some acting chops to make up for the lack of eye candy.

Both Craig and Lotte Schwartz (Diaz) are unhappy with how their lives are going, and see the portal into Malkovich's mind as sort of a saving grace, to lead a different life, to be someone else.

Catherine Keener has been in quite a few motion pictures in her career (8MM, Out of Sight), but I never knew of her prior to BJM where she plays Maxine, the object of Cusak's lust. At first, I couldn't decide whether Maxine was as sexy as the movie made her out to be, which is important since the audience has to understand Cusak's motivations. But within a half-hour she exuded such confidence and carried herself with an aura of sex that I was convinced, she is indeed a foxy lady.

John Malkovich, playing himself, is a riot. I wonder how much convincing it took for Malkovich to portray his personality as a lonely, slutty, overly-dramatic and selfish actor? This is best seen in a sequence where Malkovich enters his own mind, seeing only himself on every body and his name repeated over and over again.

In Being, no one can remember the title of any of Malkovich's movies, but they know he was good in the role. Well, I can remember, and can tell you that Malkovich is one of the most talented actors in Hollywood. Watch how he overshadows Clint Eastwood in a supporting role in In the Line of Fire and you'll know.

While Being John Malkovich is at times dark, it is never boring. Every scene offers something new and exciting, with several causing the audience to double over in laughter, and others just letting our imaginations run wild. So go see it, and for at least a week you'll forget your complaint that Hollywood only offers the same crap rehashed every week.