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1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is unarguably the best movie Jim Carrey has ever been in. Again, it was a struggle. The Truman Show has a lot of great elements but Carrey overshadows them. By contrast, Carrey shines unarguably in Eternal Sunshine, but the great elements of the movie are all up to his par and then some. The award winning Charlie Kaufman screenplay, the magnificent performances by Kate Winslet but also Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst (believe it or not) and Elijah Wood all stand out. The music, the cinematography, and the effects, all combine to make this a beautiful, heart-wrenching, and deeply moving film. Perhaps the only true film about love every written.

But let’s not discount Carrey’s flawless portrayal of a tormented lover seeking answers, seeking redemption, and seeking hope now that his love has forgotten him. As much as he can deliver the comedic pain from a kick in the nuts, Carrey’s delivery of emotional and love-related pain was tantalizing and touching. This is, to me, the best performance of his career.

Of all the films I have analyzed, this one is peculiar for me. I have seen it only a single time - when it was released in movie theaters in 2004. The story was powerful yet somewhat scarring, and the emotions it evoked too complicated and at times sentimentally unpleasant to be experienced lightly. It is a movie that stays with you.

Unsurprisingly, other than the Best Screenplay win, this movie was mostly shunned by the Academy. The complexities in the plot, the lack of true redemption, and the sobering nature of the story all present fatal characteristics for the (sorry) simpleton members.

And, of course, this was another instance where Carrey was simply not taken seriously as an actor by his peers - no one can forgive him, it seems, his potty scenes in Ace Ventura, or its sequel (I guess being birthed by a rhinoceros is pretty unforgivable).

But I can. If all of the previous roles I have listed here do not convince you that Carrey is a versatile actor worthy of attention, then perhaps Eternal Sunshine will do the trick. If it did not, then you will be missing out on an endlessly entertaining and surprisingly complex body of work in film.

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