MOVIE - ADAPTATION - Review Rating $$$$$ $$$1/2 (OUT OF 10)
STARRING - Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, Brian Cox, Cara Seymour & Maggie Gyllenhaal.
DIRECTOR - Spike Jones (Being John Malkovich)
SCREENWRITERS - Charlie & Donald Kaufman
Adaptation is the story of Charlie Kaufman's (Being John Malkovich) struggle to write a screenplay adaptation of Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief. Hence the title.
This movie has won numerous awards including 2 Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor Awards (Streep, Cooper).
Kaufman wrote the screenplay for Being John Malkovich. That movie was a tour de force. It was so imaginative and original I remember wondering, at the time, what kind of crazed individual dreamed this stuff up (in a nice way). Adaptation provides the answer.
Kaufman is the epitome of the creative genius type and a walking self-parody at the same time. His neurons are obviously overcharged. While you may not want to spend a lot of quality time with him its a delight to be given a brief opportunity to peer through this movie portal into the inner workings of his mind. Ultimately, this opportunity, proves to be both a blessing and a curse. Kaufman's personality quirks lose their initial charm in direct proportion to the number of times Kaufman resorts to them to get a laugh. Three scenes revolving around his masturbation fantasies is one, maybe even two times, too many. In other instances we are shown the final result of his maniacal thought processes only later to have the eureka moments behind those scenes spelled out for us. Another case of going to the well once too often.
Adaptation's saving grace is the material that Kaufman struggles to write a screenplay for. The story of John Laroche, The Orchid Thief, transverses the emotional spectrum. His story is humorous, ironical and in the end very poignant. Chris Cooper's portrayal of this unique individual is riveting and very deserving of a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.
Meryl Streep (The Hours), who I had the pleasure of watching in two movies on successive nights, once again demonstrates her range and talent. Cage, as both Kuafman and his brother Daniel (who helps Charlie finish the script) doesn't try and sugarcoat the characters he portrays. He lets the warts rise to the surface. This dual role requires him to present himself in a less than a favorable light. This is something many actors are unwilling to do. In the process though, he achieves what so many of those same actors crave, recognition of the fact that his acting ability is the real thing.
To truly appreciate Adaptation you must, without me giving it away, recognize that underneath the pandemonium Adaptation is a send-up of the creative process that results when blockbuster mania and test audiences drive the moviemaking process. I laughed during parts of the movie that brought a somber hush over the rest of the audience. If you are unsure, after watching it yourself, that you got the joke you can check out this background material at Greg's Previews. Watch the movie first though or it will spoil the pleasure of marveling at this unique plot device.
In my opinion, one of the reasons that Adaptation has won such critical acclaim is that it is a rousing send up of blockbuster mania in Hollywood. The insiders love to laugh at themselves while they ignore these comical lessons and continue to produce such epics as Scooby-Doo (and the sequel already in production). Personally, though I highly recommend Adaptation, it only rates an A- for the above mentioned reasons.
Adaptation also earns points for telling it's tale in a succinct 114 minutes.
It's safe to say that you won't see another movie like Adaptation this year. Miss this one and you'll be missing one of the year's most creative films.
ALTERNATIVE REVIEWS:
Roger Ebert's Review
D. Kasman's Review (details of plot device included)
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews
Official Website
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© Copyright
2003
David Schwartz.
Last update:
8/9/03; 11:07:06 PM.
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