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Great Plot and Great Actors Lost in Poor Storytelling I expected more from "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind." Some great actors are in it, the plot sounds compelling on several levels, and it was written by one of Hollywood's best. It has a wonderful menagerie of intriguing elements: psychological drama, philosophical and ethic layers, complex love stories, greed, honesty, manipulation, and questions of destiny, reality and time. What doesn't it work? What happened? The idea of this film was bigger than those who put it together. The Idea Adventurous girl (Clementine) meets shy boy (Joel). They fall into a sweeping romance, as the Yin finds the Yang. Somehow, for reasons only vaguely alluded to, it all breaks down. Clementine does something stupid and Joel suspects the worst. They break up, and Clementine decides to go to a special service to have her memory of him erased. He finds out after the fact, and decides he should do the same. In the process of having this done, he subconsciously remembers each event chronologically reversed. It isn't a tape played backwards. He just remembers what happened a month early, then the day before, until he gets to that first memory. However, as he goes through the messy breakup, and back into the good times, he realizes he loves her. Joel struggles the entire time asleep, as he has a sense of what is happening and desperately wants to save the relationship. Clementine too, although in Joel's mind, wants the relationship and understands the issue of his memory being erased. She does not see the same urgency, frustrating Joel. The ultimate conflict becomes saving the relationship. Can Joel find a solution, will he be able to in time even though various hurdles are before him, and what would the relationship look like when he wakes up? I had a difficult time following which reality, and what time and place things were happening. During the time inside Joel's memory, I became lost, and did not know what I was seeing. We see Joel as a child, as a man-child, at different events of his relationship with Clementine, and events would be different from the one I though was reality. On paper, this whole process is interesting, but, on screen, I had a hard time keeping up. Secondary plot lines are loose, at best, and could be removed without affecting the strength of the movie. Their presence, in fact, adds to the confusion, as I did not understand why certain characters were acting the way they did. For example, Stan, the technician overseeing Joel's memory erasure brings along his assistant Patrick, and they both pillage Joel's home for snacks and drinks while Joel is there asleep mid-procedure. Mary, Stan's girlfriend and receptionist at the clinic, comes by she and Stand smoke some pot. A lack of class and ethics I understand, but how this happens is the confusing part. Dr. Howard Mierzwiak, the brilliant, though staid, doctor who invented the procedure tolerates it all when he comes by to help out. He must have smelled the pot, and otherwise saw the pandemonium that had ensued. He himself seems largely professional, and yet never comments on their actions. The movie has good points. Kate Winslet demonstrates an amazing American accent. I forgot she was British. Her skills here were underused. The producers could have saved money with a more stereotypical actress like Drew Barrymore. Barrymore has played similar characters before. Jim Carrey shows us he has more chops than just as an incredible comedic physical actor. His dramatic personality here was key to my interest in the movie. Elijah Wood (he played Patrick), most known for his part as Frodo Baggins in LOTR, keeps stretching himself. His part was inconsequential to the plot, and a secondary plot about his efforts to woo Clementine was not seriously developed. "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" is a well-reviewed movie, and is worth seeing. The question of memories and how we should manage a broken heart is good to ponder, and the movie will help you get there. Its unorthodox approach might not bog down other viewers as is did for me, so give it a shot. It isn't nearly as forgettable as Clementine hoped Joel would be. Anthony Trendl