Review of Adaptation. (2002) by Max M — 03 Jun 2013

One of my favorite movies written by my favorite writer, Charlie Kaufman. Its a dark comedy about the search for happiness I find very easy to watch and only gets better on repeat viewings.

From the beginning, with an opening monologue while the screen is still black, we learn that Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is a young screenwriter who feels unhappy with his life, he's whining about everything he thinks is wrong in himself. Apart from that he's hired to adapt the screenplay for a movie about flowers, but that gets complicated because of his annoying twin brother Donald (also Nicolas Cage) moving in.

It also tells the story of Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep), the author of the book Charlie is adapting titled "The Orchid Thief" who seems to have it all except for a thing she calls "one unembarrassed passion. I want to know how it feels like to care about something passionately". She finds this passion in a man who has nothing else but love for flowers (and a pornsite), named John Laroche (Chris Cooper) and wants to feel the way he feels.

Charlie Kaufman's script isn't as inventive as his other work, but its still very creative. Like his other work he tends to write strange surreal things, but in a way that even though the characters make bad decisions most of the time, they're lovable people we feel familiar with. The decision to make Charlie and Donald twins fits perfectly with the theme of the movie.

The performances are all perfect, Nicolas Cage plays two of the funniest characters of all time as both the overthinking Charlie and the simple-minded Donald. He succeeds at playing two characters who even though are the same physically, they're polar opposites. At first he makes Charlie seem like a selfish and negative guy, but we come to relate to him once we see his excessive worrying and shyness. Meryl Streep is also amazing as someone who doesn't enjoy what she has and seeks advice from Chris Cooper's character, an over confident man with nothing to lose.

Over the years it has become a very important film, being mentioned by the late Roger Ebert on his end of decade list, and apart from that it clearly influenced director Martin McDonagh's films "In Bruges" and "Seven Psychopaths" specially the latter.

Adaptation is a lesson on how to look on the bright side and appreciate what you have with the perfect combination of Charlie Kaufman as a writer and Spike Jonze as a director, by the way I hope to see them reunite someday.