|
Adaptation (6-Dec-2002)
Director: Spike Jonze Writers: Charlie Kaufman; Donald Kaufman Based on a book: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean Producers: Edward Saxon; Vincent Landay; Jonathan Demme Keywords: Drama
CAST | Nicolas Cage | ... Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman | | Meryl Streep | ... Susan Orlean | | Chris Cooper | ... John Laroche | | | Tilda Swinton | ... Valerie | | Cara Seymour | ... Amelia | | Brian Cox | ... Robert McKee | | | Judy Greer | ... Alice the Waitress | | Maggie Gyllenhaal | ... Caroline | | Ron Livingston | ... Marty | | Jay Tavare | ... Matthew Osceola | | | G. Paul Davis | ... Russell | | Roger Willie | ... Randy | | Jim Beaver | ... Ranger Tony | | Doug Jones | ... Augustus Margary | | Stephen Tobolowsky | ... Ranger Steve Neely | | Gary Farmer | ... Buster Baxley | | Peter Jason | ... Defense Attorney | | Gregory Itzin | ... Prosecutor | | Curtis Hanson | ... Orlean's Husband | | Agnes Badoo | ... Orlean Dinner Guest | | Paul Fortune | ... Orlean Dinner Guest | | Paul Jasmin | ... Orlean Dinner Guest | | Lisa Love | ... Orlean Dinner Guest | | Wendy Mogel | ... Orlean Dinner Guest | | David O. Russell | ... Orlean Dinner Guest | | Bob Stephenson | ... David | | Bob Yerkes | ... Charles Darwin | | Lynn Court | ... Laroche's Dad | | Roger E. Fanter | ... Laroche's Uncle | | Sandra Gimpel | ... Laroche's Mom | | Caron Colvett | ... Laroche's Wife | | Larry Krask | ... EMT | | John Etter | ... McKee Lecture Attendee | | Ray Berrios | ... Police Officer | | Nancy Lenehan | ... Kaufman's Mother | | Harris Mann | ... Kaufman Twin | | Marc Coppola | ... Kaufman Twin |
REVIEWS Featured review by [[Mark Tapio Kines]]: When I saw [[@movie::being-john-malkovich-1999]], I had to concede that the movie was just smarter than I was. I knew it was saying something about power, celebrity and identity, but I couldn't exactly say what. And usually when I don't get something, I suspect that there's genius at work. Well, here comes Adaptation, the second collaboration between director [[Spike Jonze|Jonze]] and writer Charlie Kaufman, and... I got it. So it's very good, but not brilliant. The plot, at least part of it: Neurotic screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (played rather tenderly by [[Nicolas Cage]] -- it's one of his best performances) is hired to adapt New Yorker writer Susan Orlean's ([[Meryl Streep]]) nonfiction book The Orchid Thief, a look at John Laroche ([[Chris Cooper]]), an obsessive plant poacher in Florida. Crippled with writer's block, Charlie -- with help from his goofy twin brother Donald (Cage again), tries to make sense of Orlean's unfilmable book, and winds up writing a script about his attempts to write a screen adaptation of The Orchid Thief. You follow?
Had this been literalized, Adaptation would have been a snooze, another tired look at a) The Hollywood Game or b) The Craft of Writing. But Kaufman, as expected, throws in lots of bizarre twists and turns, matched by Jonze's playful (if straightforward) direction and game performances by an obviously top-drawer cast. It's fun, but after a while I realized that, in its very unpredictability, the film became predictable. When Kaufman says at the beginning of the story that he doesn't want to write anything that has guns, car chases, sex or heroes having epiphanies, you know you're going to wind up seeing all of that. But the thing is, the film seems to know that. It's even in the trailer! So you can't win. I still encourage you to check out Adaptation because it's inventive, it's funny, it has one possibly life-changing line of dialogue. It's also fun to try to draw the line between fact and fiction (the real-life Kaufman really was hired to adapt the real-life Orlean's book about the real-life Laroche) while watching. But the film wobbles when Kaufman tries to inject genuine heart into it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (especially at the end). The slight insincerity that comes when aiming for pathos in the middle of so much clever-cleverness keeps the film from greatness. But it doesn't keep it from being entertaining. By the way, writers will enjoy this film a lot more than non-writers will.
Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile
Copyright ©2013 Soylent Communications
|
