Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Why So Serious? Jim Carrey probably takes the crown for being the most dichotomous of all the comedy legends who take on serious roles, balancing out the darker stuff with rubber-faced, high-concept laughs.

Perhaps this jester's finest dramatic moment came playing Joel Barish in Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine, which combined indie cool, brain-frying smarts and some genuinely poignant touches in one genre-defying package. Carrey's never been more convincing, and the screenplay is one of Charlie Kaufman's finest.

If they played it for laughs... Jim Carrey has to mug for all he's worth in order to win back his memory-discarding ex, Clementine, as he tries to jog her brain by re-enacting their entire relationship. The movie culminates in a last-minute snowmobile chase through her memory bank.

See also: The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, The Majestic, The Number 23