Charlie Kaufman (Cage) is a highly anxious, socially awkward screenwriter, currently having his first screenplay Being John Malkovich filmed. He lives with his much more confident twin brother Donald (also Cage), who dreams of being a screenwriter himself. When Charlie is hired to write a film adaptation of the book The Orchard Thief by Susan Orlean (Streep) he gets severe writers block as he tries to find a way to get the book into a movie, but finds the subject matter ‘un-filmable’. As he stumbles further into writers block, he becomes obsessed with Orlean and begins to fantasise about her, and then stalk her. Meanwhile Susan reconnects with the radical horticulturalist John LaRoche (Cooper) and is reminiscent of  the time three years ago as she wrote the book during her in depth interviews with, and her affair with him, as they hunted the rare Ghost Orchid in order to harvest and sell. Ultra Meta film, by the brilliant writer Charlie Kaufman – is loosely based on the time HE was hired to write a screenplay of The Orchard Thief by Susan Orlean. It also adds several of the cast of Being John Malkovich during the making of this film, which was also directed by Jonze. The performances are flawless, and Cage pulled not one but two amazing performances as the twin Kaufman brothers (the film is written by Charlie and “Donald”). “Both” Charlie and “Donald” were nominated for an Academy Award for “their” work. The three lead actors, Cage, Streep and Cooper all were nominated for their performances, with the latter taking home Best Supporting Actor for his performance as LaRoche. The genre itself is not one of my favourites, but I respect the ingenuity that Kaufman possesses. He is one of the most mature writers in Hollywood, and his ability to be self referential as well as take aim at his own work (Cox’s character who dislikes self narration within films, where this film is full with it. I wasn’t entirely the biggest fan of the third act, and Charlie’s almost Pyrrhic victory. Some of the characters actions feel completely out of place, and the genre completely shifts gears. This is the only real flaw I have within the movie, and because of this I finished this film on a sour note. It is still a great film and the performances from the three leads are very good, especially Cage and Cooper. 4/5

Director: Spike Jonze Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper Story: Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman struggles to adapt a book with no narrative called “The Orchid Thief” Pros: - Great performances - Realistic portrayal of the artistic process - Incredible writing - The creation of Donald, Charlie’s twin brother, to represent his other side was really smart Cons: - The third act felt a little rushed

Charlie Kaufman & Adaptation walked so Christopher Nolan & Inception could run. This hurts my brain to think about and I loved it. 154/365 movies & tv for 2023

“You are what you love, not what loves you. That's what I decided a long time ago.” As far as I can remember, this is the first time ever that a movie had everything like... Brilliant Screenwriting (Thinking of how Charlie Kaufman eventually created this phenomenal script after struggling with the adaptation and writer's block was truly a great thing.) Amazing performances (this is the best ever performance of Nicholas Cage(s), Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper excelled as Susan and John, and I loved the cameos too, especially Brian Cox as Robert Mckee, was a thought-provoking cameo, and his secret advice to Charlie in this movie totally summed up the movie for me in the end, which I'll come to later). Even Nicholas Cage's character in this movie was so relatable to me as an amateur screenwriter myself(Thinking of this hurts me more). But even with all these amazing things this movie had, in the end, I wasn't completely impressed with it. That's my bad because I wasn't in the mood to watch a movie today because of some personal issues, but still I decided to watch this, and I didn't think I'd feel like this after watching this. But maybe if I had watched it some other time, I would have probably enjoyed it more. But as Robert Mckee(Brian Cox) perfectly said in this movie, "I'll tell you a secret. A last act makes a film. Wow them in the end, and you got a hit. You can have flaws, problems, but wow them in the end and you've got a hit." Even though this movie had all the above-mentioned things, I wasn't impressed much, but this above quote from Brian Cox's character came true in the end for me. The final act was so good; it was the only act that impressed me in the end. As a whole, I wish I had watched this movie some other time, so that I would have probably enjoyed, liked, or maybe even loved it better.

8/10 You know, normally, I’m not a Nic Cage fan, but his performance as Charlie Kaufman here is relatable and he’s gained respect from me for it. He’s also actually funny as Donald. The script is pretty clever overall. I’m surprised this made it through as an adaptation of a nonfiction book about flowers. A lot of the jokes are funny and the cast makes them work. Ultimately, the meta nature of Adaptation will be lost on some people. Screenwriters will enjoy this one, though.