Adaptation.
Academy Award × 1
Rent/Purchase
Charlie Kaufman is a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman and Orlean's book become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the other's.
What critics thought
Critics broadly embraced Adaptation as a dazzling, self-devouring puzzle of a film, praising Kaufman and Jonze's willingness to push meta-fiction into genuinely funny and emotionally strange territory. The main fault line was the third act: admirers argued it performs a brilliant self-critique of Hollywood convention, while skeptics found it smug and self-sabotaging. Notably, the film earned far more enthusiasm from critics than from general audiences, who were considerably cooler on it.
“bewilderingly brilliant and entertaining”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Screenwriting this smart, inventive, passionate and rip-roaringly funny is a rare species.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“This is epic, funny, tragic, demanding, strange, original, boldly sincere filmmaking. And the climax, the portion that either sinks the entire movie or self-critically explains how so many others derail, is bananas.”
Wesley Morris·The Boston Globe
“Too smart to ignore but a little too smugly superior to like, this could be a movie that ends up slapping its target audience in the face by shooting itself in the foot.”
Mike Clark·USA Today
“Adaptation is almost juvenile showing off—daring to make a film that is in search of a script”
Stanley Kauffmann·The New Republic
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorSpike Jonze
StarringNicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, Jay Tavare
ComposerCarter Burwell
Adaptation.
Academy Award × 1
Charlie Kaufman is a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman and Orlean's book become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the other's.
What critics thought
Critics broadly embraced Adaptation as a dazzling, self-devouring puzzle of a film, praising Kaufman and Jonze's willingness to push meta-fiction into genuinely funny and emotionally strange territory. The main fault line was the third act: admirers argued it performs a brilliant self-critique of Hollywood convention, while skeptics found it smug and self-sabotaging. Notably, the film earned far more enthusiasm from critics than from general audiences, who were considerably cooler on it.
“bewilderingly brilliant and entertaining”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Screenwriting this smart, inventive, passionate and rip-roaringly funny is a rare species.”
Peter Travers·Rolling Stone
“This is epic, funny, tragic, demanding, strange, original, boldly sincere filmmaking. And the climax, the portion that either sinks the entire movie or self-critically explains how so many others derail, is bananas.”
Wesley Morris·The Boston Globe
“Too smart to ignore but a little too smugly superior to like, this could be a movie that ends up slapping its target audience in the face by shooting itself in the foot.”
Mike Clark·USA Today
“Adaptation is almost juvenile showing off—daring to make a film that is in search of a script”
Stanley Kauffmann·The New Republic
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorSpike Jonze
StarringNicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, Jay Tavare
ComposerCarter Burwell
Rent/Purchase