ADAPTATION. (2002) ***

Nicolas Cage stars in the dual role of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his identical twin brother Donald in Spike Jonze’s offbeat, absurdist, uneven, but mostly engaging Adaptation.  Crippled by self-doubt and writer’s block, Charlie finds himself unable to adapt the book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay.  When all else fails, he injects himself and his various crises into the story.  That ultimately gets himself in hot water once he finally meets the book’s author (Meryl Streep) and the real-life title character (Chris Cooper).

The scenes of the painfully shy Cage attempting to navigate his everyday life pack a punch.  You really feel for him, especially when you see the people he perceives as lesser talents getting all the accolades while he struggles with his own work.  Cage gives two separate and distinct performances as the introvert Charlie and the gloriously oblivious Donald.  You can always tell who is who because everything from their posture to their mannerisms to their tone of voice is so specific and uniquely their own.  Even though the performances are somewhat exaggerated (heck, Donald is a fictional character to begin with), there is a nugget of truth that runs throughout both performances, which makes them engaging and sympathetic to the audience.

The sections devoted to Streep becoming closer to the subject of her book aren’t nearly as involving.  Both performers do a fine job (Cooper even won an Oscar for his performance), but they just don’t hit the emotional beats that Kaufman’s storyline does.  Once the two plots finally intersect, it’s admittedly fun seeing the way the movie embraces the very clichés that Kaufman has resisted.  However, it just misses sticking the landing.

Still, it’s fun seeing the cast giving such brave performances.  Heck, Susan Orlean, the author of The Orchid Thief must be a helluva good sport (or has a crappy lawyer) to allow herself to be portrayed the way she is here.  Fans of Jonze’s Being John Malkovich (which was also written by Kaufman) will enjoy seeing cameos from that film’s cast and crew, which adds to the surreal vibe of the movie.