Review of Adaptation. (2002)

My third Charlie Kaufman-penned film on my favorites list, but probably his best written one. Nicholas Cage stars as Charlie Kaufman who has been assigned to write an adaptation for the book The Orchid Thief. He is having great difficulty doing so, and, as a solution, decides to write himself into the script. But his neurosis gets in the way, and on multiple occasions he hits roadblocks and completely rewrites it. It is endlessly entertaining to see how the screenplay plays tricks on the audience and even becomes a character itself. At one point, Kaufman goes to a writing seminar by McKee (at the insistence of his twin brother, Donald--also played by Cage) where Kaufman is talking to himself through voice over when suddenly McKee thunders, "and god help you if you ever use voice-overs in your script. God help you." From that point on, there are no more voice-overs. That is just one sample from it. I haven't even talked about the twin brother's interactions. Cage somehow manages to distinguish the two from each other without changing hair styles and wardrobes, but through character. You know which brother is which just by what they say and how they act. One oozes an ignorant confidence, the other is crippled by anxiety. Oh yeah, and Chris Cooper won an Oscar for his role. He deserved it. Keep in mind McKee's advice to Charlie: "Wow them in the third act and you've got a hit." Wow, indeed. You won't see it coming.