so close to perfect

i think this movie is a phenomenal cerebral movie, but it took one step too far.

it has so much going for it:

-unique intriguing disease (temporary memory loss)
-fascinating protagonist (tattoos on body, polaroids)
-amazing story telling (checkout the wikipedia on fabula and syuzhet)
-compelling backstory (solving rape and murder of wife)
-ambiguous characters (teddy and natalie)
-manipulation of hero (dodd story line, jimmy story line)
-intertwined crimes (killing of jimmy leads to meeting with natalie, killing of jimmy leads to dodd threats against natalie)
-suspense in every scene as we work backwards
-b/w and color scenes interweaving
-fascinating story within a story (sammy)
-amazing twist at end (tricking himself into framing an innocent man, for the sport of it)

with all that, i think it's one of the best movies of all time.

but then i think it goes one step too far with the whole "was anything in this story true?" which kind of takes off some of the shine. it tried to be too clever. who killed the wife was a mcguffin. getting revenge was a mcguffin. was there a second attacker? was there ever an attack? was lenny even married? was teddy a cop? did teddy lie throughout the movie? did natalie lie throughout the movie? was anything stated or remembered in the movie true? was his wife a diabetic? was there ever a sammy? did he kill his own wife?

none of that matters, but it was all thrown in to be too clever by half, in my opinion. all the positives listed above were enough and the story could have ended cleanly (like the game). "the whole movie may have been a dream because every statement, memory, and encounter could be false" drops the movie in my mind from a 10 to an 8.

i understand that other people might prefer a movie where all the facts are ambiguous, and move it from an 8 to a 10.