Adaptation

Synopsis
Following up their acclaimed debut, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze are back to metaphysical moviemaking with ADAPTATION. The film stars Nicolas Cage as both Charlie Kaufman himself and his fictionalized identical twin brother, Donald Kaufman. While the boisterous Donald freeloads off of his sibling and works on a serial-killer movie script, Charlie is tormented by both his own army of neuroses and his new project, adapting THE ORCHID THIEF by Susan Orlean into a screenplay. As Charlie struggles to shape the nonfiction novel into a film, he begins writing himself into the story of Orlean (Meryl Streep), a sad-eyed journalist, and her subject, renegade Florida flower expert John Laroche (Chris Cooper). The resulting tale extends far beyond the scope of the book, stretching from Hollywood to New York to...Hollywood four billion years ago.

Equally as inventive as BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, ADAPTATION revels in its gloriously absurd premise. Kaufman and Jonze skillfully sidestep the pitfalls of such a seemingly self-indulgent project, creating a multilayered film that focuses on the writing process as well as the nature of beauty, the beauty of nature, and dozens of other significant themes. Cage makes a stunning return to pre-Bruckheimer form in the roles of the Kaufman brothers, giving their identical appearances completely different personalities and making them believable to boot. Meanwhile, the consistently excellent Streep and the often underrated Cooper are perfectly matched as Orlean and Laroche. Even the less central roles are played by great actors--Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Ron Livingston appear as supporting characters. Careening wildly between the hilarious, the ridiculous, and the poignant, Kaufman and Jonze's ADAPTATION is another fine example of their bravura yet sincere style of cinema.

Reviews
"...Few scripts toss more challenging balls in the air, and Jonze juggles them all with artful, light-stepping ease. It's magic..." (Rolling Stone)

"...Mr. Cage and Mr. Jonze share a casual, daredevil sensibility, and the two of them -- or should I say the three of them? -- pull off one of the most amazing technical stunts in recent film history..." (New York Times)

"...Cage gives one of his best performances..." (USA Today)

"...[Featuring] Nicolas Cage in his lightest, loosest, best performance since MOONSTRUCK....ADAPTATION demonstrates that Kaufman, the real Charlie Kaufman, has a rare and really weird talent....The guy is fun..." (Entertainment Weekly)

"...The boldest and most imaginative studio film of the year..." (Los Angeles Times)

"...A wickedly funny movie....It's refreshingly unique..." (Box Office)

"...ADAPTATION is life-affirming..." (Premiere)

"...Every bit as clever and surprising as MALKOVICH....Streep gives a quietly alert performance that permits emotional revelation in well-judged stages..." (Variety)

"...It has all the pleasing confusion of an optical illusion....A dizzying, unique work..." (Total Film)

"Ms. Streep and Mr. Cooper deserve on another, and that's meant as high praise for both." (Wall Street Journal)