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| DIRECTED BY |
| Spike Jonze |
| STARRING |
| Nicolas Cage |
| Tilda Swinton |
| Meryl Streep |
| Chris Cooper |
 |
�Adaptation.� is about as creatively puzzling as any Hollywood production is going to get, and its many twists and turns aren�t as hard to sit through as one may suspect after reading the storyline. However, viewers who care only about the actual, literal story of what goes on in screenwriter Charlie Kaufman�s reality should be disappointed with the denouement (day-new-mah;) I certainly know I was.
The film works well as a character study when it doesn�t tread into the territory of Kaufman�s repressed sexual desires. Particularly, a daydream sequence revealing what Kaufman would like to do with a waitress seems to be added simply for a quick laugh rather than to further develop his creative frustrations, which is the most interesting aspect of the film. The most appropriate laughs come during Kaufman�s altercations with his twin brother (both Nicholas Cage) over a screenplay, the bizarre philosophies of John Laroche (Chris Cooper,) and Kaufman�s arguments with a perennially horny studio executive played by Ron Livingstone.
By the end, we realize that the film even works on the level of a satire on the cinematic acceptances of our modern day movie-going public; however, I just can�t believe that that�s what Kaufman (the real one) was ultimately aiming to accomplish. The introduction of a deus-ex-machina (an alligator?;) the use of a copout-like happy ending, and a number of other cliches ultimately fails the actual story for me, even though I do understand that Kaufman does all of this with a grand point in mind. As a comment on how a writer whose mind has begun a downward spiral would end up, it works; though only the most perceptive cinephiles will realize that it ultimately concludes on quite a depressing note.
I should also mention that the twin special effects are executed seamlessly, and the film contains one of the most horrific car crashes that I�ve ever seen on celluloid. Spike Jonze�s direction is refreshingly peculiar � his abilities make me marvel at how many other unusual visionaries may lie within the skateboarding industry. Overall, �Adaptation.� works as a remarkably imaginative (if not slightly unsatisfying) exploration of a truly creative mind.
