Grade:  B

Director:  Spike Jonze		Released:  December 2002
Writer:  Charlie Kaufman		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper		Running time:  114 minutes

Ratings System

Nicolas Cage is excellent in this film.  Nevermind all the Con Air's and Face/Off's, Cage can act his ass off.  The script is challenging and the lead actors: all three terrific.  Cage plays twin brothers Charlie and Donald.  Charlie is the intellectual writer, Donald, the budding formulaic Hollywood writer.  Both are working on screenplays in the film, and then both are working on the same screenplay.

It's at about this point in Adaptation. where it meets a fork in the road; in one direction, Charlie finishes out the script, in the other direction, Donald writes the rest of it.  The movie doesn't tell you this explicitly, but clearly Donald takes over the reigns and rides it to the finish.  Either this is a brilliant spoof on the contrivances of "Hollywood" movies, or it's just silly.  I'm leaning towards silly.

Up until that point, I enjoyed the film.  I really like the concept of a movie about the guy who creates the movie you're watching.  Admittedly, I even enjoyed the comedy aspect of that last chapter, but it wasn't THAT funny, it went on too long.  Just kinda silly.

- crocoPuffs