6.5 seems to be my default score for any artistically ambitious film that doesn't quite overcome its very pronounced flaws. Kaufman's screenplay is simultaneously his most profoundly emotional and his most brattily undisciplined. Jokes fall flat every now and then. The film, and the deciding factor in my evaluation, is probably the least cinematically distinguished of the other 3 Kaufman-written films I've seen. The film feels really choppy, which was to be expected if this film was to be his most surreal and avant garde-like film to date (it is), but unlike that other "avant garde blockbuster" Inland Empire, Kaufman's directing is rather conventional and the choppy randomness and flat editing just emphasizes that.
It's a complexly self-reflexive film that I at least found fun in piecing it together. Performances are great, especially Samantha Morton. Make-up is superb.
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