Movie Review | Adaptation
Reviewed by: Brian Orndorf

“Adaptation” is all but impossible a film to classify as there is, but here it goes: Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is a burgeoning screenwriter who is in the midst of seeing his first produced screenplay, “Being John Malkovich,” go in front of the cameras. A overweight, balding, compulsive self-loather, Kaufman takes on his next writing gig, adapting Susan Orlean’s best seller, “The Orchid Thief,” to the screen. Faced with insurmountable writer’s block, dealing with a book that many feel is unadaptable, and witnessing his slacker twin brother’s (also played by Cage) success as a painfully novice screenwriter, Kaufman begins to exhibit signs of insanity, as his mind races with thoughts of love, hate, disaster, and longing for the perfect way to write his screenplay. “Adaptation” also follows Orlean herself (Meryl Streep) three years earlier, as she goes about interviewing the eccentric subject of her book, a slightly demented Florida flower dealer named John LaRoche (Chris Cooper). As with Kaufman, Orlean longs to find her passions in life, and even goes so far as to jeopardize her marriage, health, and sanity to find her desires.

To explain why “Adaptation” worked for me is to begin back at “Being John Malkovich,” a film that I really didn’t care for. Nothing against Kaufman’s writing, but his eccentric storytelling always came off, and still does, a bit gimmicky. It appears as if the quirks of his screenplays were born out of a need to be different instead of organically growing out of the story. “Adaptation” is just as bizarre as “Malkovich” (and “Human Nature,” the other produced screenplay of his from this past spring), but it feels real this time, with all the quirks coming out of Kaufman’s insane need to complete the “Orchid Thief” screenplay. “Adaptation” is about as personal a screenplay as there is, with Kaufman taking potshots at his family, and even his own frail appearance, and it’s daring to be that far out there in your public self-loathing. I also adored Kaufman’s take on the real meaning of “adaptation,” that goes far beyond just bringing a book to the screen. Without having to deal with feral humans, or portals into an Oscar-nominated actor’s head, Kaufman has written another script that defies convention, but this time it’s in a way we can all easily relate to, and rarely alienates.

To portray Kaufman, Nicolas Cage gained some weight, lost some ego, and put on a horrible balding wig. Not flattering in the least, but Cage was never one to take the easy way out. “Adaptation” is a tougher role for Cage, as it requires him to plays twins who look alike, but have completely different outlooks on love, life, and screenwriting. These types of complications are nothing to Cage, who knocks this role out of the park, completely encapsulating Kaufman’s spiraling neuroses and depression with ease. This is simply Cage’s finest hour in some time, with a tour de force performance that you end up hoping doesn’t represent the real Kaufman, as that would be too depressing to bear.

Returning to the director’s chair is Spike Jonze, the endlessly playful filmmaker behind “Malkovich,” and even the recent “Jackass” movie (in a producer/actor angle). Jonze is a visualist, with an endless bag of tricks at his disposal to sell the images created by Kaufman. But that’s where his talents end. It’s easy to be charmed by Jonze’s impish creativity, but I’ve yet to see the man tell a story that didn’t involve shallow tricks, even in his long and industrious career as a music video director. Jonze and Kaufman are a match made in heaven, as Kaufman needs gimmicks to get through his stories, and Jonze needs the stories to sell some more gimmicks. It doesn’t get any better than that. But with “Adaptation,” Kaufman is growing as a screenwriter, and taking more chances. And Jonze is still trying to skirt by with camera tricks and goofball sentimentality.

“Adaptation” does have a wonderful way about it that reveals its tricks as it plays out, not letting the audience to feel left out of the joke. However, with the climax of the picture, this defined winking that I had become used to is thrown out, with Kaufman and Jonze feeling in an ambiguous mood, and leaving the finale to one’s own interpretation. Had the filmmakers been more aggressive in chasing obtuse symbolism throughout the film, I might not have blinked twice over the nonsense that encapsulates the third act of the picture. So when Kaufman complains that he doesn’t want to write a film about “guns, car chases, and characters learning life lessons,” then you expect when the film eventually ends this way, that it’s a big joke, right? Not entirely, with Kaufman and Jonze suddenly mum about what the meaning of this insanity is. “Adaptation” is at its best when just playing it straight, and letting Kaufman’s wildly frenetic mind lead the way. The film finds peace in that tornado of a brain, and when he freaks out over not being able to find a conclusion for his film, I guess he meant for “Adaptation” as well.

Grade: 8/10

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