Hey folks, Harry here... I really hope they stop testing ADAPTATION, because this script wasn't really a mass audience film from the get go. I mean, it was brilliant, but in an obscure way. This is a NOT FOR EVERYONE FILM, but for those that it is for... Oh boy is it for them. Here's a look at it still in its rough form...
Hey Harry,
I just got back from a test screening of Spike Jones' ADAPTATION held at the Scottsdale Camelview 5 in Arizona. I'll keep this brief and relatively spoiler-free, as I have lots of drinking ahead of me tonight. I just wanted the honors of being first to post a review! All the bars in the Phoenix area close at 1, so I only have a few minutes before last call. ;-)
Anyway, this movie is definitely not for all tastes. For me, it was incredibly smart and witty ... most of the time. It's not as clever nor as ingenious as BEING JOHN MALKOVICH which, for my money, is still one of the funniest, trippiest movies to come down the pike in a long while. ADAPTATION lives and dies by its premise: screenwriter Charlie Kaufman writes himself into an adaptation of adapting Susan Orlean's book "The Orchid Thief." Still following?
The movie doesn't go all the way in presenting the three-dimensional problems of implicating an audience as a third character within the framework of the film. It's definitely smart filmmaking, but not what I was hoping for. Whereas Christopher Nolan followed up his much-beloved MEMENTO with the equally impressive INSOMNIA, I think that Jones doesn't follow through on the promise of JOHN MALKOVICH (a movie, by the way, which **re-appears** a couple times in ADAPTATION).
This is not to say that ADAPTATION is not a good film. Far from it. It leaps back and forth through time (reminding me, at times, of a diet version of AMELIE), telling the story of Kaufman struggling to tell the story of Susan Orlean struggling to tell the story of Laroche (played wonderfully by Chris Cooper). Most of the comments I heard post-show were "that was fucking confusing!", but I think it's definitely for the higher-minder filmgoer. I consider myself a fair judge of "smart films"; I'm a grad student at ASU, pretending to be a lit major, so I definitely enjoyed the lit professor/serial killer joke ("The Deconstructionist").
The acting is top-notch. It appears that all Nicolas Cage needs to do to break out of his Bruckheimer days is a little extra flab! Yes, playing the portly Charlie Kaufman AND his twin brother Donald, Cage is amazing to behold. He's nervous and twitchy ... he's acting! Cooper is fantastic, pulling in a role that should acquit him of the upcoming BOURNE IDENTITY and that Carrey flick ME, MYSELF AND IRENE. Meryl Streep is good as well -- however, I felt something was missing from her performance. Brian Cox has a nice cameo, as does Ron Livingston as an agent with a thing for anal sex jokes. Everything about the movie seems to suffer from some sense of limitations; it just doesn't go far enough, as I said before. As Kaufman is essentially trying to figure out how to tell the story as we watch it unfold, so too is the tenor of the film: we never get the big payoff. Instead, we get a contrived third act that betrays the intellectuality of the first two.
I should also note that the impossibly cute Judy Greer once again bares her breasts ... however fleetingly. Why oh why doesn't anyone notice how cute she is, casting her in the roles that Meg Ryan should not be occupying these days??
Anyway, out of five stars, I'd give it *** 1/2, just because it's rare to see a comedy that challenges and stretches the expectations of audiences. Not nearly as good as MALKOVICH, but right on par with HUMAN NATURE. I foresee this having a **very** select audience with very little commercial appeal. This is destined for a big life in video and cable, I think -- not to mention becoming a staple in every book-to-film adaptation class offered by universities. I can just see the wannabe-filmmaker/professor hammering out their new syllabi right now...
Call me "Going to Four Peaks Brewery," because that's where I'm headed, my friend.
Cheers!
