Adaptation

Adaptation  (2002) 114 mins.
directed by Spike Jonze
starring Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper

Nicolas Cage plays real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman who has the difficult task of adapting Susan Orlean's book "The Orchid Thief" for the big screen. 

Q Says:

this was a pretty good film.  spike jonze is a damn good director.  i appreciate the quirkiness of kaufman and his writing, but his insights into screenwriting is what i truly find interesting.  the dichotomy between charlie and his "brother" donald is the best part of the movie for me.  charlie is the true talent and donald is writing a thriller after going to a lecture and reading a book about how to write a screenplay.  this infuriates charlie who is struggling so hard to be original especially after donald successfully sells his work to charlie’s agent.

so, after many failed attempts charlie goes to donald for help and the film goes off the rails into thriller territory.  this totally goes against EVERYTHING charlie stands for, but he is so desperate that he follows along.

the cast does a great job, especially nic cage playing both charlie and donald.  this is one of the rare flicks that cage dosen’t “overact”  which is a nice change.  meryl streep is not one of my favourite actresses, but does fine here but chris cooper really steals the show as leroche.  he’s brilliant.

this is the second time i’ve watched this movie and i would watch it again, but not for a while.

L Says:
   My very first impression of this movie was it made me think of the Chuck Norris movie, The Octagon.  Lots of whispering voice over by the main character of Charlie Kaufman.  (Look it up, watch it, it is awesome).
   I found this movie to be a bit distracting, a bit slow and perhaps a bit long.  The first half of the movie was kind of painful as Charlie (played suprisingly well by Nicolas Cage, which is me saying alot because I normally don't like Nicolas Cage) agonizes over adapting a book about orchids into a watchable screenplay, fantasizing about women, and masturbating to said fantasies.  The second half goes all thriller on us as Charlie and his twin brother, Donald (also played by Nicolas Cage) head to Florida to see what they can find out about Susan Orlean, the author of the book and John Leroche, the star of her book.  Chris Cooper also does an excellent job as Leroche and steals the show.
  Then, some orchids are snorted, an alligator gets a midnight snack, and we learn why you should always wear your seatbelt, especially in a high speed car chase.
  Decent movie with some good performances.  I would probably not watch it again.