1. ryancarroll88

   9

   Self Indulgent? Yep. Pretentious? Of course. But the real miracle here is how the film can take all of these self-references and neuroses to create a story of characters with which the viewer can empathize and actors can let their talent shine (most notably Nicolas Cage in his dual role). And believe me, I would give this movie a lot less credit if the screenplay wasn't so damn good.… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 2 users said Yes.
2. Compi24

   8

   It's third act may be rather polarizing, but as an overall film, "Adaptation." is stil a beautifully written meta-drama with utterly priceless performances from Nicolas Cage and Chris Cooper.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
3. Halfwelshman

   7

   Adaptation is further proof that no director does off-the-wall filmmaking like Spike Jonze, and no writer plays with the concept of reality quite as well as Charlie Kaufman. Adaptation is an extremely appropriate title for the film, which is an adaptation of and adaptation of an adaptation (the film follows a fictionalised Kaufman struggling to adapt a book into a screenplay, and he ends up writing himself trying to adapt the book into his film - that's three levels of reality). Kaufman's writing, as per usual, is exceptionally clever, funny, and unconventional. He has a lot to say about being a writer, the film industry in general and social ineptitude. He bravely creates an exaggerated version of himself, a depressed, self-hating and bordering on paranoid personality, played brilliantly by Nicolas Cage, to act as narrator and ground the film's undeniably odd story in some semblance of reality. The other characters in the film, all weird and wonderfully warped versions of real people, add a little something extra to the film, whether it be Meryl Streep's passionate and driven, but quite tragic journalist Susan Orlean, or Chris Cooper's slightly batty but compelling activist and orchid hunter John Laroche or Brian Cox's universally respected but rather arrogant screenwriting lecturer Robert McKee. I also found the introduction of Charlie Kaufman's fictional twin brother Donald (Cage again) an interesting concept - it's almost as though Kaufman has a love-hate relationship with himself, and differing aspects of his personality, with each of the brothers representing particular personality traits. The "Charlie" part of himself is thoughtful, intellectual, and occasionally brilliant, but at the same time is cripplingly shy and socially awkward. The "Donald" part of himself is charming, confident and interesting, but his writing is uninspired, mainstream drudgery. The film could be commenting on Kaufman's desire to be better known and more loved, but also being unwilling to dumb down his writing to achieve this. Adaptation is an extremely effective film when talking about filmmaking, writing, inspiration and identity, but sometimes I felt Kaufman took these concepts a little too far. The film's finale, especially, is quite jarring when compared to the rest of the film - it seems like Kaufman and Jonze have given up the originality and consistent tone of their film at this point in favour of a final act from a run-of-the-mill thriller. This portion of the film is turgid, melodramatic and feels simply wrong, threatening to overwhelm the brilliant subtlety and quiet confidence of the of the first hour and twenty minutes or so. I'm also not sure whether Charlie's hallucination sequences were really necessary to demonstrate his sleep-deprived, uninspired state of mind either. Even with its hugely disappointing conclusion and minor artistic niggles, Adaptation is an insightful, original and funny reality-distorting piece of cinema from two of the greatest talents working in the film industry today. Being John Malkovich undeniably pulled off the same ideas more effectively, but Adaptation still has a lot to say, especially when taken as a companion piece to the aforementioned masterpiece.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 1 users said Yes.
4. TyS.

   2

   Would not recommend this to anyone at all. Why was I so looking forward to watching this ? It is obvious why. I was keen after reading all the so called experts say it was such a good this and this but it was really just a tired old bag of cliches. Cage has a habit of picking these non charismatic parts as no one could make his characters seem lively or any of the characters for that matter, This was as bad as I have seen of late and that takes into account a few very bad ones as well......... While i admire the guts and courage to create this movie and gather such a good cast (on paper) and realise it is so easy to sit back and throw insults at the work ,I really do feel this is a total loss as far as watchability.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.

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