most of my feelings about the movie have already been mentioned. one, i loath nicolas cage in almost everything he's done except leaving las vegas, and now this movie. he was my initial reason for never going to see the movie. the layering of the story was very well done, going from past to present, seeing the beginning of the movie before kaufmann decided what the beginning of the movie and he rants about it in his recorder. but i think the best part for me(and maybe the whole point of the movie) is that kaufmann (cage) is sitting there saying that he can't make a movie about flowers without all the hollywood shit, and as soon as the hollywood shit starts the movie sucks, compared to the rest of the movie. i liked the neurotic, lonely kaufmann better the the (obviously contrived) alligator in the swamp stuff. but realizing that the end is part of the overall message of the movie, it doesn't suck. don't know if that makes sense. and malkovich was definitely more entertaining, but maybe not as complex.