Barnes & Noble
Going through the looking glass and into the kaleidoscope, Adaptation defies easy description. A movie within a movie about the creation of a movie, it is an exhilarating mix of reality, fantasy, and dark humor, filled with satire and sharp performances. The concept revolves around screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage), who battles writer’s block while trying to adapt the book The Orchid Thief by New Yorker scribe Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep). The story mirrors that of the real-life Charlie Kaufman, who struggled mightily to adapt Orlean's novel about John Laroche (played by Chris Cooper), who poaches rare orchids in Florida's Everglades. Kaufman (the character) has an identical twin brother, Donald (also played by Cage), a freeloading lunk who inflates Charlie’s frustrations, fears, and delusions by taking a quickie screenwriting course with guru Robert McKee (Brian Cox) and selling a serial-killer flick for a cool million at the height of Charlie’s despair. Playing with the boundaries of fact and fiction, the film intersperses bits of The Orchid Thief adaptation with Charlie's other struggles -- namely, women and the world of moviemaking. The result blurs everyone’s perceptions of what’s real, what’s make-believe, and…what’s the difference, anyway? Few movies have been this provocative and playful since 1999’s Being John Malkovich, which Kaufman wrote and brought to the screen with Adaptation director Spike Jonze. Fans of that gem will exult as Malkovich, Jonze, and Malkovich stars John Cusack and Catherine Keener show up for cleverly interwoven cameos. Adaptation's three lead performers, each Academy Award nominated, make this tricky material work brilliantly: Streep exercises her penchant for humor; Cage recaptures the offbeat appeal he mastered in such films as Raising Arizona; and Cooper's turn is simply revelatory, earning him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. A bold and sly homage to the pains of the creative process, Adaptation proves that the real Kaufman is among the screen's most creative processors. Peter Marchand
Barnes & Noble
Going through the looking glass and into the kaleidoscope, Adaptation defies easy description. A movie within a movie about the creation of a movie, it is an exhilarating mix of reality, fantasy, and dark humor, filled with satire and sharp performances. The concept revolves around screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage), who battles writer’s block while trying to adapt the book The Orchid Thief by New Yorker scribe Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep). The story mirrors that of the real-life Charlie Kaufman, who struggled mightily to adapt Orlean's novel about John Laroche (played by Chris Cooper), who poaches rare orchids in Florida's Everglades. Kaufman (the character) has an identical twin brother, Donald (also played by Cage), a freeloading lunk who inflates Charlie’s frustrations, fears, and delusions by taking a quickie screenwriting course with guru Robert McKee (Brian Cox) and selling a serial-killer flick for a cool million at the height of Charlie’s despair. Playing with the boundaries of fact and fiction, the film intersperses bits of The Orchid Thief adaptation with Charlie's other struggles -- namely, women and the world of moviemaking. The result blurs everyone’s perceptions of what’s real, what’s make-believe, and…what’s the difference, anyway? Few movies have been this provocative and playful since 1999’s Being John Malkovich, which Kaufman wrote and brought to the screen with Adaptation director Spike Jonze. Fans of that gem will exult as Malkovich, Jonze, and Malkovich stars John Cusack and Catherine Keener show up for cleverly interwoven cameos. Adaptation's three lead performers, each Academy Award nominated, make this tricky material work brilliantly: Streep exercises her penchant for humor; Cage recaptures the offbeat appeal he mastered in such films as Raising Arizona; and Cooper's turn is simply revelatory, earning him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. A bold and sly homage to the pains of the creative process, Adaptation proves that the real Kaufman is among the screen's most creative processors. Peter Marchand
Barnes & Noble
Going through the looking glass and into the kaleidoscope, Adaptation defies easy description. A movie within a movie about the creation of a movie, it is an exhilarating mix of reality, fantasy, and dark humor, filled with satire and sharp performances. The concept revolves around screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage), who battles writer’s block while trying to adapt the book The Orchid Thief by New Yorker scribe Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep). The story mirrors that of the real-life Charlie Kaufman, who struggled mightily to adapt Orlean's novel about John Laroche (played by Chris Cooper), who poaches rare orchids in Florida's Everglades. Kaufman (the character) has an identical twin brother, Donald (also played by Cage), a freeloading lunk who inflates Charlie’s frustrations, fears, and delusions by taking a quickie screenwriting course with guru Robert McKee (Brian Cox) and selling a serial-killer flick for a cool million at the height of Charlie’s despair. Playing with the boundaries of fact and fiction, the film intersperses bits of The Orchid Thief adaptation with Charlie's other struggles -- namely, women and the world of moviemaking. The result blurs everyone’s perceptions of what’s real, what’s make-believe, and... what’s the difference, anyway? Few movies have been this provocative and playful since 1999’s Being John Malkovich, which Kaufman wrote and brought to the screen with Adaptation director Spike Jonze. Fans of that gem will exult as Malkovich, Jonze, and Malkovich stars John Cusack and Catherine Keener show up for cleverly interwoven cameos. Adaptation's three lead performers, each Academy Award nominated, make this tricky material work brilliantly: Streep exercises her penchant for humor; Cage recaptures the offbeat appeal he mastered in such films as Raising Arizona; and Cooper's turn is simply revelatory, earning him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. A bold and sly homage to the pains of the creative process, Adaptation proves that the real Kaufman is among the screen's most creative processors. Peter Marchand
All Movie Guide
The creative team behind Being John Malkovich -- director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman -- return with this equally offbeat comedy, in which Kaufman himself becomes the leading character. Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is a gifted but profoundly neurotic screenwriter who, after the success of Being John Malkovich, has been hired to write a script adapted from the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. But while Charlie is obsessive about his work, he's also intensely paranoid, given to deep depression, socially inept, and terrified of talking to women, qualities which are making it difficult to get on with his work or hold on to his tenuous relationship with girlfriend Amelia (Cara Seymour). Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin brother, Donald Kaufman (also played by Cage), has shown up to move in with his brother. Emotionally, Donald is Charlie's polar opposite -- a loudmouthed, over-confident, superficial party animal who has an easy way with the ladies. Donald has decided to follow his brother's footsteps and take up screenwriting as well, but embracing the dictates of screenwriting tutor Robert McKee (Brian Cox), he's cranking out a cliché-ridden serial-killer thriller when not busy making time with new girlfriend Caroline (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Donald blazes through his screenplay, Charlie slowly picks away at his story, in which author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) chronicles John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a scruffy but devoted plant enthusiast who tries to save rare species of orchids by stealing them from their natural home in the swamps of Florida. As John and Susan become better acquainted, they find themselves attracted to one another; similarly, Charlie finds himself increasingly fascinated with Susan, and finds himself falling in love with her, even though he's only seen her photo on the dust jacket of her book. Charlie arranges to meet Susan, but is too nervous to confront her face to face, so he sends Donald (who has just scored a seven-figure deal for his script) in his place, while he attends a screenwriting seminar held by McKee. Adaptation also features Tilda Swinton, Judy Greer, and Stephen Tobolowsky. Mark Deming
Rolling Stone
Screenwriting this smart, inventive, passionate and rip-roaringly funny is a rare species. It's magic. Peter Travers
Washington Post
May not be the first movie to examine the creative process. But it's the most playfully brilliant. Desson Howe
Chicago Sun-Times
What a bewilderingly brilliant and entertaining movie this is. Roger Ebert
Los Angeles Times
It's typical of the nerve, the bravado, the sheer giddy playfulness and sense of fun that characterize what has to be the boldest and most imaginative studio film of the year. Kenneth Turan
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