Richard Curtis, like 'FM' 30 years ago, has used the premise as little more than an excuse for tried-and-true sitcom scenarios. Worse, while he's kept this a period piece, he has given all the characters a modern sensibility more fitting for 'Superbad' than the 1960s. Grade: C-.  

It's useful to know two things going into Charlie Kaufman's head-trip of a movie. "Synecdoche" is a literary term, referring to the part being representative of the whole — as in "Times Square is New York City." And Kaufman is very "meta" writer who knows the fourth wall in drama isn't a sacrosanct rule but merely a concept to be toyed with at will.