Adaptation

Simply one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, written by the most imaginative screenwriter working today: Charlie Kaufman, who wrote Being John Malkovich . I laughed my head off, even though it’s not primarily a comedy, especially when Kaufman’s fictional twin brother took over the project and turned it into an action/chase potboiler in the best Hollywood tradition. It deals with the agonies and insecurities of the screenwriter himself, in the writing of the very movie we’re watching. I wonder now what the author of the source material, a simple little book called The Orchid Thief, thought of what Kaufman did here. Chris Cooper richly deserved his Supporting Actor Oscar.