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.
