MOVIE REVIEW: "Synecdoche New York"

"Synecoche New York" reflects writer/director Charlie Kaufman's depressing (and endless) narcissistic ruminations of life, creativity, theater and semi-profound philosophy and surreal use of film. Mostly it reflects him. I recommend to Kaufman anti-depressants and anti-psychotics (some available by proscription; some hopefully soon to be developed) before he commences another film.

In analyzing why Philip Seymour Hoffman (one of my favorite, favorite contemporary actors) took the leading role in the film, I came up with five factors: (1) he got caught up in the Hollywood, pseudo-intellectual-Kaufman hype,(2) he was on screen every minute, (3) he was able to play a MacArthur Fellow (often called the genius award) and (4) he got to age in performance from a vibrant young man to a dying old man, and (5) he got to roll around in the mind (and in the sack) in lotsa, lotsa scenes with lotsa lotsa lovely (and often nude) and wonderfully talented actresses (including Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis and many others).

It is sad that so much talent (especially Mr. Hoffman's) was wasted in this film.

Sidney Kimmel, Anthony Bregman and Spike Jonze are credited as producers...hopefully they produced with someone else's money. If not, they need to be proscribed (if they are not already on them) the same anti-depressants and anti-psychotics I recommend for Kaufman.