The film opens on a blue curtained stage, where a marionette performs an intricate dance before what sounds like a very receptive audience. We soon learn that the puppet was created in the image of its maker and operator, Craig Schwartz (John Cusack, Pushing Tin), that the stage is located in his workshop and that the crowd noise was just a tape. An incredibly gifted but tormented puppeteer, Craig is unable to find work in the dummy business and is often reduced to working for spare change on the streets of New York. He claims that the puppet business shuts him out because he "raises issues."

Although Craig’s wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz, There’s Something About Mary) has a full-time job at a pet store, he can no longer afford to wait for his big break in puppetry. One day, while perusing the employment notices, he finds an ad for a local business that is looking for a man with fast hands. Thinking this could be the best opportunity to earn some cash and keep his digits in shape, Craig heads for LesterCorp, but doesn’t bother to cut his Jesus-hair, shave or even change his clothes.

This is when things begin to get weird, as Craig enters LesterCorp’s building only to find it listed in the lobby directory as being located on Floor 7½. There is no elevator button for 7½, which presents an immediate problem. Then, when Craig finally makes it onto 7½, he finds a hallway with ceilings only five feet high. But the furniture and people are full-sized, which makes everything seem very Alice in Wonderland-ish.

Craig gets his job – speed filing – and immediately begins working for his new boss, the 105-year-old Dr. Lester (professional game-show panelist Orson Bean) and his hearing-impaired "executive liaison" Floris (Mary Kay Place, Pecker). His orientation consists of a videotaped history of his employer’s compact floor, where he meets and instantly falls for the lovely Maxine (Catherine Keener, Your Friends and Neighbors), before eventually finding the entrance to Malkovich’s brain after accidentally dropping a file behind a cabinet.

Once in Malkovich’s brain (Malkovich plays himself), you see things as he does for fifteen minutes before being shot out of the sky somewhere over the New Jersey Turnpike. One of the film’s true joys is the excitement people have about the sheer banality of the famous actor’s life, whether its eating toast or ordering linens. By the end of the picture, Craig is able to control Malkovich like a giant puppet, in the only predictable facet of the inventive story from debut scribe Charlie Kaufman, who also served as an executive producer.

Aside from the highly original script, kudos must be given to multi-MTV Video Award winner Spike Jonze, who has made a rather auspicious feature film debut, and cinematographer Lance Acord, who filmed the equally creative Buffalo ’66. The acting is fantastic, especially Cusack and a nearly unrecognizable Diaz, and Malkovich (The Man in the Iron Mask) appears to have a grand time making fun of himself. Look for cameos from Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and a very funny Charlie Sheen.

If you’re looking for something daringly original, do not miss this film. If you liked Runaway Bride, you should probably stay away. Really far away.

1:52 – for adult language and strong sexual content