'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,' the best American film of the aughts, turns 20

How a small romance without any deep political resonance became the consensus best film of its decade

“The movie of the decade- and it stars Jim Carrey.” That quote, from a review by Esquire’s David Thomson, appeared on posters for The Truman Show before it came out in the summer of 1998. Carrey was so known, at that stage of his career, for broad comedies where he made funny faces and talked out of his butt that his starring in a prestigious, serious movie was considered surprising. 

The Truman Show still enjoys a positive reputation, although not many people, with the benefit of hindsight, would call it the “movie of the decade” today. James Cameron's 1997 Titanic, the decade's Oscar and box office record holder, is among the movies with a better claim to that title for the 1990s. 

Six years later, Jim Carrey and the female lead of Titanic, Kate Winslet, teamed up for a movie that has often been called, deservedly, the film of the decade for the 2000s. 

That movie is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman (the story is credited to Kaufman, Gondry, and Pierre Bismuth). The film debuted in March of 2003, 20 years ago next week.