Spike Jonze is a Jack of all trades, but he's still best known for his mind-blowing and fantastical romance movies. Since his 1999 directorial debut, Being John Malkovich, Jonze was instantly known as the enfant terrible of Hollywood due to the film's surreal narrative and unique comedy. This perception of him was supported by his history of directing music videos for Beastie Boys, cocreating the Jackass series — even playing Gloria in several of the movies — and then becoming the creative director of Vice Media, an alternative news and politics media outlet.
Though he has his fingers in many different pies, Jonze is known for his trippy movies even though they aren't hugely successful at the box office when they're first released. Those films are critical darlings and grow into cult classics, finding huge audiences long after their theatrical releases. The filmmaker has directed four movies, all of which have an enormous amount of star power behind them and have totally unique, hard-to-explain concepts. All of Jonze's films have been positively received, with some getting extra acclaim for being so technically advanced.
4 Where The Wild Things Are (2009)
Where the Wild Things Are arrived at a time when Jonze had long established himself as an incredible filmmaker with unique visions of fantastical romances that examine love, sex, affairs, and many other mature themes. And that's why it came as such a surprise when his next project was based on a children's picture book. But while many would have expected something more in line with Family Guy's Where the Wild Things Are adaptation, Jonze delivered a wonderful and whimsical movie about an exciting and magical world. The film comes with a just-as-whimsical soundtrack from Yeah Yeah Yeah's Karen O too.
The movie also perfectly mixes practical outfits with digital effects to create the Wild Things' faces and expressions. The seamless blend makes for a great collection of movie monsters. However, given that the book has a bare-bones narrative, the movie doesn't add much of anything new, which leads to a film that feels a little long in the tooth, even at just 94 minutes. And because of the innovative effects, the movie had a budget of $100 million, leading to a box office bomb that barely made back its budget (via Box Office Mojo). Unfortunately, the 2009 release is the only Jonze movie that hasn't reached cult classic status.
3 Adaptation (2002)
Adaptation was Jonze's sophomore effort, and as Nicolas Cage is known for his wild performances, the 2002 release saw Jonze pull the reigns on the eccentric actor just a little bit. As a result, it made for a refreshing change of pace and one of Cage's greatest performances. The movie is a great meta-dramedy, as it's a part-adaptation of the non-fiction book The Orchid Thief, and a part-followup to Being John Malkovich where writer Charlie Kaufman (Cage) struggles with writing the adaptation following a cult hit. Cage plays the socially awkward Charlie, but he also plays Charlie's more confident twin brother, Donald.
The movie doesn't only feature Cage, but it has a whole cast of decorated actors, including three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep, and it's one of Chris Cooper's best movies too. The surreal film was a major awards contender, as Cage and Streep were nominated for Academy Awards, and Cooper won for Best Supporting Actor too. The only thing that potentially holds back the movie is how tied it is to Being John Malkovich without technically being a sequel. Given the movie's unique meta concept, it could be tough to grasp without having seen the 1999 movie, and Adaptation could alienate those viewers.
2 Her (2013)
Her follows Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), a writer who composes letters for events like birthdays and anniversaries for those unable to put their feelings into words. But, ironically, Theodore is no good at relationships himself, and like many of Jonze's other lead characters, he's socially awkward. Her was a return to what Jonze does best, strange and fantastical sci-fi romances. Theodore falls in love with a Siri-type AI, and it's a unique take on the technology taking over trope. Where most sci-fi movies typically depict a dystopian-like future, Her does it in an emotional sense, and it accurately showed how people become more distant with the increasing reliance on technology.
The 2013 release was an important movie for the filmmaker, as it was the first movie written by Jonze. And out of Jonze's four movies, Her remains his most successful when it comes to awards. The writer won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Picture. Her is such a terrifyingly possible concept, but it's still weirdly funny and features Jonze's usual surreal humor more than any of his other movies. The director even has a role in the film, as Jonze voices Alien Child, the seemingly cute video game character with a potty mouth, and a vehicle for Jonze's hilariously crude jokes.
1 Being John Malkovich (1999)
Though it followed outrageously bombastic music videos like Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," Being John Malkovich was way more than what anybody could have expected from the young director. The 1999 movie established Jonze's style of absurd narratives revolving around romances that involve introverted men in weird professions. The film follows Craig (John Cusack), a struggling puppeteer who gets a desk job and finds a portal into John Malkovich's mind behind a filing cabinet. Craig then learns to control John and uses him to seduce a woman he falls in love with. John Malkovich brilliantly played himself, and that's barely touching on the movie's weirdness.
Not only did the 1999 movie establish Jonze's style, but it also started a great working relationship with Kaufman, who wrote both Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Though he didn't win, Spike Jonze was nominated for Best Director for Being John Malkovich, which is outstanding for a first-time director. The film has become a beloved cult classic, and it features two iconic scenes, such as the "Malkovich, Malkovich" scene when John enters the portal into his own mind, and when John exits the portal and has a beer can thrown at his head, which has become a Being John Malkovich myth all of its own.