Hey folks, Harry here... Here are three reviews of ADAPTATION... The second feature film from Spike "Genius" Jonze. I love BEING JOHN MALKOVICH completely, from end to end. And we have two reviews calling it genius and one that hated it. This first one is from a long term off and on spy that I've seen sending in for years. And I tend to agree with them quite often.. Here ya go....
If you are reading this, chances are you loved Being John Malkovich. Every geek did and those who didn't... well, they're exceptions and quite the minority. Malkovich was one of 1999's freshest movies and, although it wasn't my personal favorite, it certainly was one of the best in a very good year. Those crazy kids, Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze, are back, and this time, they apparently brought some extra talent along for the ride. Adaptation is based on the novel The Orchid Thief, which I have not read, by Susan Orlean, and to assist him in writing the script, Charlie has brought along his brother, Donald. And the result is pure genius. I cannot begin to explain some of the clever bits that creep their way into this script without sneaking into spoiler territory.
The brilliance behind this movie, as was in Malkovich, is that while Kaufman could have started with the premise, assumed that was enough, and just let it write itself, he actually takes it into new territory. He doesn't stop with just the idea, he keeps going with it until, at the end, the movie has become enveloped in its own unique universe.
The premise, in this case, is that the movie is actually about Kaufman adapting the novel The Orchid Thief and it is intercut with scenes from The Orchid Thief. However, if that sounds too clever for it's own good, the screenplay definitely does some interesting things with it, which I couldn't possibly dare to reveal.
What I will reveal is that Nicholas Cage is fantastic in the twin roles of Donald and Charlie Kaufman. The version of the movie screened was digitally projected and it's clear that the special effects weren't finished (Cage's arm blends into the background in a few shots), but his performance is amazing. Despite the fact that they both look identical, he's able to instantly distinguish between the two of them. His Charlie character is sort of an even more loser-ish version of Woody Allen and his Donald is just as loser-ish, but with more self-confidence. Donald's the hack writer; Charlie's the artist.
There is so much wit that is involved in this movie that I can't possibly reveal, as the movie develops, it becomes more and more ambiguous as to how much of it is real and how much is actually auto-biographical (and, for that matter, how much isn't), yet the movie also simultaneously involves the viewer in the story at hand. It's completely remarkable. The movie's only fault occurs early on, when it cuts to the sequences from The Orchid Thief, which aren't quite as involving as those from the adaptation process. However, stick with them because, as is to be expected, it pays off later.
In fact, I think I enjoyed Adaptation more than Being John Malkovich. Maybe it's because I knew to expect the unexpected or maybe it's because the subject matter felt closer to home, but I found this to be an even more impressive achievement. Jonze and Kaufman make quite a team and I can't wait to see this again when it comes out and I especially can't wait to see what they do next.
The rest of the theater may not have gotten it, but I was laughing so hard most of the time, I couldn't even tell. You geeks are going to love it.
- The Quick Brown Fox
Here's a new reviewer Typoidn....
Harry:
(Please refer to me as "typoidn" in the review...)
MINOR SPOILERS BELOW...
I had the opportunity this evening to sneak my way into the VERY FIRST screening of Spike Jonze's and Charlie Kaufman's ADAPTATION, at L.A's newest multiplex -- the Arclight Cinemas. (Please ARCLIGHT -- if you're going to charge your patrons $14 bucks for a seat, let them decide WHICH SEAT EXACTLY THEY WANT and don't let the computer do it for them...)
Ok. Off the soap box. Onto the goods...
ADAPTATION stars Nick Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper and Ron Livingston with cameos by John Cusack and Catherine Keener...
ADAPTATION is the story of none other than CHARLIE KAUFMAN himself, basking in the so-called success of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH when our story begins. But when he shows up on the set he's snubbed by Cusack & Keener and everyone else. That's the thing about Kaufman (the character) -- he's fat, he sweats when he's nervous, he's losing his hair and he knows it. He obsesses, he worries, and he's just been offered an opportunity to adapt a book (written by a New Yorker journalist played by Meryl Streep) about a man (Chris Cooper) stealing Orchids in the Florida Everglades. The book itself doesn't have a story -- it's like a National Geographic novel, but Charlie Kaufman wants to do something different from his last "weird" movie. He wants to really tell a story. But telling someone else's story is more complicated that he thinks. He believes he can "make it work".
However, "making it work" soon turns to writer's block which turns Charlie into a blathering mess as the deadline soon approaches. What he does and how it unfolds is a total Kaufman scenario -- and when all is said and done you have to ask yourself "did that really even happen"? What was real and what wasn't?
Let me just say this -- NICK CAGE is back! And I'm not talking about the Nick Cage who did CON AIR and CAPT. CORELLI'S MANDOLIN and any other of his cop-out money-making choices. I'm talking about the NICHOLAS CAGE you saw in VAMPIRE'S KISS and PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, and VALLEY GIRL and RAISING ARIZONA. Weird. Quirky. Funny. And he's ACTING here. Real acting.
Nick Cage is very funny as Charlie Kaufman. He wallows in his own self-grief, his lack of confidence, and his inner-fears and worries. But NICK CAGE is even better as Charlie Kaufman's TWIN BROTHER DONALD. (That's right -- twins!) It's hilarious to watch these two play off of each other, especially due to the fact that Charlie's brother Donald has just moved into his apartment and decided that, HE TOO, wants to be a screenwriter. Hell, he's a Kaufman, why not try for it.
However, it becomes a big distraction for Charlie -- he's trying to write a small, meaningful adaptation, while keeping the author's integrity to heart while his brother Donald comes home from various ROBERT MCKEE screenwriting workshops as he slowly pens his version of a big blockbuster psycho killer movie in which the killer, the policeman pursuing him, and the female victim are all the SAME PERSON. He calls it "The 3", and I won't tell you what happens to HIS script -- other than it pisses Charlie off.
Eventually, the pressure builds and Charlie has to find another alternative to this problem spiraling out of control. His agent is calling (played very funny by Ron Livingston), the production company wants the draft, and all Charlie has is pages of very strange and very quirky stuff. He needs help, and so he turns to his commercially-minded brother Donald for help. It's then that Charlie's world takes a turn into uncharted territory.
Meryl Streep is very natural as SUSAN, the author of the book that has Hollywood knocking at her door so they can option it. Chris Cooper has some hilarious scenes as a guy missing all his front teeth, driving around in a van, in an attempt to find that next "get rich quick" scenario involving flowers or, well, internet porn.
I'll say this -- this movie is WAY better than Human Nature, in case you saw it and lost faith in Kaufman because of it. As for Malkovich, it's much more on par with that movie. Interesting and quirky characters whose changes and arcs are believable. There's really only one problem with the entire movie.
The ending.
Not the actual last five minutes, but the last third of the movie. I'm not going to give it away, but I will say that the first 2/3rds of the movie is so fun and quirky and great that when the tone shifts in the last third you're left wanting something else. Something different that you thought you were going to get.
Don't get me wrong -- the shift in tone makes SENSE. It works with the message the film is trying to get across about Hollywood and cookie-cutter films and why Charlie Kaufman is a unique personality... BUT... If they had only taken that shift and infused some of the quirk and humor from the first two thirds, they'd be golden. We shall see what they do -- I had the opportunity to sit in on the focus group, and most people felt the same way about the shift in tone. We'll see if they listen.
Overall though, a pleasing return to form by all parties involved. Even they must have felt happy with the results as the Sony brass were uttering phrases like "congratulations" to all involved.
Over and out-
TypoidN
And here's the same reviewer that was disappointed by SPIDER-MAN and didn't like BEING JOHN MALKOVICH... And this is the only negative review so far...
Harry:
First off let me just say that I was NOT a fan of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. I felt it was over-rated, quirky for quirky's sake, and generally a dopey film.
The duo of Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's latest film ADAPTATION is worse.
This is not Meryl Steep's finest hour, nor is it anyone else's involved in this stupidity.
The film is a dismal, self-indulgent piece of esoteric filmmaking that is interesting for at least one half hour until it degenerates into utter stupidity.
I shall be brief as to remain spoiler-free -- and to devote any more of my time to this would be wasting precious minutes of life and breath.....
Here's the idea: What would happen if Charlie Kaufman's next writing project after MALKOVICH was to adapt a novel called THE ORCHID THIEF, by Susan Orlean? Nic Cage plays Kaufman, who according to this film, is a fat, repugnant, self-loathing man who just can't seem to adapt the novel. He suffers through the worst writer's block in the history of film. But that's just one story, the other half of the film is what Susan Orlean, (played by Streep), goes through in writing the novel, following John LeForge (played brilliantly by Chris Cooper), a horticulturist whose had his share of personal tragedy.
The film shows us the obsessive lengths that a writer goes to for their work. Kaufman, mastrubating - literally and figuratively - constantly about his own inabilities on the project, Orlean getting too intimate - literally and figuratively - with her subject. Eventually their obsessions become too large to handle and they are consumed by them.
This was at first an interesting idea about the struggles of the creative process, but it soon becomes painfully self-important and you really start to ask yourself - Who the hell cares about Charlie Kaufman? He's a sad sack of a character, complaining about his success. Suck it up jerk-off. The story quickly sinks into a morass of cartoonish stupidity (my favorite was watching Streep do lines of green orchid extract powder like they were cocaine - and achieving the same effect). Cage as twins gets so metaphorical (the idiot brother - Donald, spends the whole film writing an inane screenplay as well, and lo and behold - it sells for millions!!! --- something Charlie can't admit he wants, but is incapable of) that to give away how that pays off is a major spoiler.
This was a good idea botched by that all too familiar approach by the filmmakers to have to prove they are smarter than the audience. But all they are proving is that they can make plotless garbage like this mess and keep getting paid to do it. Because film execs want to show that they "get the joke" too. If they don't they look stupid. And we know how much film execs love that.
Folks, there is no joke to get. If you pay $10.00 to see this mess - the joke is on you.
Quick side note -- we saw the film at the new Arclight Cinemas here in Hollywood. The place is gorgeous - and it's designed like a film archive museum. Very cool place. There's even a full stocked bar, which had I known this would be so bad, I would have visited before the screening began.
That's all from the Left Coast
Pike Bishop
