“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is director Charlie Kaufman’s first film in several years, and I’m sure fanatics of the director are beyond excited to see his latest attempt to crack the human code.

The story follows a young woman and her boyfriend as they take a perplexing road trip to meet the boyfriend’s parents.

Seeing as how I haven’t seen all of Kaufman’s films, I can’t really consider myself a Kaufman fanatic. That being said, I do consider myself a fanatic of the book the film was based on, which is a novel of the same name written by Iain Glen.

When I was thinking of all the things I wanted to say in this review, I admittedly struggled a bit because it’s hard for me to separate the movie from the book, which I adore and strongly recommend.

Kaufman’s film is almost nothing like the book, so if you’re more of an Iain Glen fan than a Kaufman fan, you may not enjoy this movie.  

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is very confusing and disorienting for its entire runtime, and the ending especially may baffle a lot of casual movie watchers. You may have to already be a fan of more abstract, artistic films to fully appreciate what Kaufman is doing here.

While every choice Kaufman made won’t please fans of the original novel, it isn’t hard to appreciate his creativity and intelligence in approaching the larger themes of the book, such as loneliness, the passage of time and general existentialism.

Let me be clear: this isn’t a bad movie, but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” will be a very divisive film, and some people are going to hate it. However, if you’re familiar with Kaufman’s style of film making or just enjoy weird, artistic films in general, you’ll enjoy the movie.

If you open yourself up to the weirdness, you may realize there’s something quite brilliant about Kaufman’s work.

The acting in this film is great from everyone involved, which is good because there are only four primary cast members, and this could’ve been a very poor film if all of them hadn’t brought their A-game. Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Collette and David Thewlis are all wonderful. Collette definitely stood out the most, but she’s great in just about everything.

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is a very special movie, but people should proceed with caution when viewing it. Make sure you understand this is going to be a wild ride, and expect to come away from the film with some questions.

It is definitely not the best artistic film in recent memory, but that doesn’t mean the movie doesn’t have value and can’t be appreciated.

3.5/5 Torches