Adaptation

I enjoyed this film, then again, I probably enjoyed the "hearing the character's thoughts" motif sprinkled all throughout the film because there are some comic gems in those thoughts.

The whole exercise of fileting the standard cookie-cutter Hollywood screenplay writing was done well enough to keep me entertained. Even as the film becomes a subtle/not-so-subtle parody of the screenwriting experience, I got good laughs from it all, and from the laughter by the audience, I'd say many of them also got a lot of the in-jokes.

This was one of the few movies where even though it doesn't want to be a "stereotypical" plot-driven movie, when it gets into the 3rd act, you get that rush of "what's going to happen next?" with no idea of what's really going to happen. (Even if it "violates" good screenwriting principles) So, in that respect, I got some mileage out of it.

The performances were solid. I still wonder how they seamlessly integrated Nicolas Cage's dual performances (as Charlie and Donald Kaufman onto celluloid. The special effect work is done very well. And Cage does a great job in creating 2 different characters that look alike (being identical twins and all) and has their own cadence and mannerisms. Meryl Streep does another good turn in a part that could have easily been "phoned in" but I bought her performance as Susan Orlean. Chris Cooper totally disappeared into the role of John LaRoche, and gave us quite a character in his outlook on life.

I give this film 3.75 stars or a grade of A-.