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We've all had that unforgettable romance that never completely left our mind. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores this theory in a manner befitting the mad genius of writer Charlie Kaufman. The simple concept is that Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) has had a medical procedure performed to erase the memory of ex-boyfriend Joel from her mind's eye. Since the ex is none other than Jim Carrey, I'm certain a lot of us would settle for simply deleting the horror that is Dumb and Dumber from our minds; however, just eliminating everything he's done isn't a bad fallback option.

The fallout from Joel being erased from Clementine's mind as easily as if he had been an old episode of Three's Company is that he decides to reciprocate. He signs up to have the same procedure to remove his memories of her. The movie is told as a series of Memento-esque rewind sequences within Joel's head as he replays the best and worst of times from their two years together. Since the recollections are shown in reverse order, the first pieces erased are unpleasant moments from around the time of the break-up but as the memories grow fonder, Joel reconsiders his decision. He begins to stash the files marked for deletion into other parts of his brain, but this has unexpected results. Other parts of his past are marred by the unexpected encounters with his overwritten memories of Clementine, causing hilarious results.

Charlie Kaufman is one strange dude. In recent outings like Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Adaptation, he's demonstrated a willingness to eschew anything resembling normalcy as he embraces the outlandish. Jim Carrey's career has had its fair share of the bizzarre, so the matching of the two talents has some tantalizing possibilities for unprecedented comic genius. It also affords the possibility of The Cable Guy-esque awkward humor which falls totally flat because it's simply too far out there for mainstream consumption. With Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, there isn't going to be any in-between, so this is either going to be a hilarious blockbuster or an indescribable mess. Either way, we're there opening weekend for what promises to be one of the most unique releases on the 2003 schedule. (David Mumpower/BOP)

Vital statistics for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Main Cast Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst Supporting Cast Victor Rasuk, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, Elijah Wood, David Cross, Ellen Pompeo Director Michel Gondry Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman Distributor Focus Features Trailer Click Here for Trailer Official Site http://www.eternalsunshine.com/ Rating R Running Time 110 minutes Screen Count 1,353 Also see Kevin Chen reviews Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Awards Awards page for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture

Comparison films for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Title	Date	Opening	Adjusted Opening	Screens	PSA	Adj PSA	Total BO	Adjusted Total	Mult
Bruce Almighty	5/23/03	85.73	85.73	3483	24614.00	24614.0	242.60	242.60	2.83
Cable Guy, The	6/14/96	19.81	27.02	2657	7456.00	9783.9	60.17	82.08	3.04
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	1/24/03	5.83	5.83	1769	3297.00	3297.0	15.94	15.94	2.65
Majestic, The	12/21/01	4.90	5.22	2361	2077.00	2132.1	27.80	29.67	5.61
Adaptation	1/10/03	2.64	2.64	560	4709.00	4709.0	22.50	22.50	6.04
Being John Malkovich	11/24/99	2.04	2.43	591	3452.00	3941.3	22.86	27.24	5.59
Memento	5/4/01	1.22	1.30	445	2733.00	2805.6	25.93	27.67	13.56
Cat's Meow, The	4/26/02	0.51	0.53	135	3742.00	3742.0	3.18	3.30	5.69