This movie offends me on such a fundamental level that I wanted to give it a 0. But then I remembered some truly bad movies where it's obvious that none of the screenwriters, directors, or actors involved was actually making an effort. In my opinion, these are the kind of movies that deserve a zero score. In the case of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it is clear that some of the creative personnel behind it were genuinely, and dare I say with great (albeit misguided) artistic passion, sensibility and integrity, trying to express something through it. That's why I gave it 3 stars, for effort.

The reason I didn't like this movie is not because I found it confusing - I understood the plot perfectly, nor is it because I cannot suspend belief for a sci-fi twist - I've enjoyed many a sci-fi and fantasy movie in the past. What irks me the most is the kind of movies that present a sci-fi or fantasy premise, and then do not build on the premise in a logical or consistent way. Of course, some leeway and artistic license are always allowed, or even welcome, since movies sometimes can't and shouldn't be research-paper accurate. But if a movie veers too far away from logic and reason, without utilizing absurdity or parody as a deliberate artistic treatment, then it is just plain pointless and obtuse. And this is a movie that takes itself seriously. The problem is, if one is to entertain, somewhat seriously, the possibility of highly precise selective memory erasing technology, then the least interesting aspect would be to use it to salve relationship pains. Governments and secrets services would go crazy for this kind of technology for espionage, mind control, loyalty conversion, airtight non-disclosure procedure, and a million other usage scenarios. And people would freak out over the enormous ethical issue of invading the sanctity of one's mind. The only imaginary situation where such technology would be even remotely considered suitably justified would be to treat extremely severe case of PTSD, schizophrenia or depression perhaps. The world as we know it simply wouldn't be the same with this premise. To even suggest the idea that people would willingly erase their own memories just to alleviate romantic woes is an insult to the audience's intelligence.

Imagine going into a movie knowing its premise revolves around a time machine that normal people could use for a fee, then finding out in this fantasy world, all the people only want to use the time machine to re-freeze their melted ice-cream, and nothing else. If it's a skit in a comedy, it might be funny. But this movie seems pretty serious about itself, which just makes it look like vacuous nonsense.