Stars: 3.5/5
Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is a bleak and miserable experience. I don’t mean that it’s a bad movie, but it’s a hopeless one. It’s mind-boggling and depressing. Kaufman sure does know how to set a mood. 
The movie starts off with Lucy (Jessie Buckley) and Jake (Jesse Plemons) on their way to meet Jake’s parents. While on the drive, the couple have a conversation that was just boring and uninteresting, but this conversation also sets up the true meaning of the movie.
While this conversation is happening, Lucy is questioning her relationship with Jake. The couple had no chemistry, and it looks like the relationship is going nowhere. The conversation doesn’t get warmer especially when it’s dark and snowy outside on the way to Jake’s childhood home. 
Everything gets stranger by the minute, and Jake’s parents set the tone of what’s in store for the vast confusion of the film. Mother (Toni Collette) and Father (David Thewlis) are the strangest characters that I’ve ever seen in a movie. They’re nice people, but they’re so unsettling. Jake’s reactions to them also doesn’t make it better.
I can’t forget the most important character, the janitor. Janitor (Guy Boyd) goes through his day like it’s a depressing routine. It’s important to pay attention to this character as the film goes on. 
I don’t want to spoil things, but I’m just going to say that this film does not have a reliable narrator. 
I thought this movie was pretty good and the bleakness matches the overall setting of the film. But, the movie drags on so much that it was kind of hard to pay attention. I can usually handle movies that do this, but for this one, I couldn’t get through it. Although, Collette does steal the show. 
The misery and surrealism was done a great way. The mix of fantasy and reality was well-done, and that is generally my favorite aspect of this film. Kaufman doesn’t play it safe and directly tells us that life can be miserable. 
The biggest hit to the movie was how much it dragged on, but the ending makes up for it and left me awe-struck. From the trailer, it was nothing like I expected it to be, and I always like that about certain movies.
Kaufman does give a lot of philosophical thoughts to ponder on, which I think is a good addition because these conversations that Lucy and Jake have basically leads up to the ending. It made sense when I discovered the true narrator of this story, and it was depressing to think about. 
I like the film, and the story that it told. The conversations were kind of boring, but they still mentioned interesting points to think about. It does make sense to make the conversations bleak because Lucy is thinking about ending things.
But, I must assume differently of what she means by ending things.