Adaptation.

When I saw Adaptation. on the list of movies that were considered "Magical Realism", I have to admit that I knew nothing about the film.  Then I found out that Nicolas Cage was in it.  I'm not sure how other people feel about Nicolas Cage, but ever since I saw Wicker Man, I just need to see his face and my mind only thinks of one thing:

I would feel terrible if I'd seen him in a film where his acting really impressed me, but I haven't. He runs around with he weird face and big eyes reminding me of Droopy Dog and I kind of want to punch him in the face.  I feel terrible about it because I don't know him, but there it is.

But then something happened.

I saw the screenwriter. Charlie Kaufman.

There's another actor I usually hate. I see he has a role in a movie and usually I just... shut down most of the time. I can actually count on my fingers the number of movies I've seen him in where I didn't want to rip my eyes out so I could get his Hamming and Cheesing It Up out of my head forever and ever. 

Subtlety is for everyone else!

 Yeah... that guy.

Now, everyone who knows Jim Carey knows one of the more recent of his "good films", Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Who wrote that film?

Charlie Kaufman!

So, I went into the film feeling pensive, but knowing that the writing would be enjoyable.

Instead of genuine Magical Realism, I found a movie about WRITING. Well, screenwriting, but who cares? I liked it. It kind of went through the process and really drew me in. It even showed two writers with very different writing methods and how that happened. Yes, Nicolas Cage is... himself in goofy, depressed mode, but he doesn't drag the film down.

This is impressive, too because there are TWO Nicolas Cages. He plays TWINS.

I actually did a double take when the twin showed up in the film. I was like: "Is this the Magical Realism part? Is he hallucinating? Will the twin be dead already? What's going on?"

Then it sunk in and I settled back down. There really is a book out there called The Orchid Thief. The film is really about Kaufman's troubles in adapting the film. He doesn't really have a twin brother and John Laroche didn't really get killed by an alligator and he didn't have an affair with Susan Orlean. Apparently, a good bit of the rest might actually be true.

So, is this a Magical Realism film?

No, but it is damn good. It shows what's going on in a writer's head and the constant voice-over from the actor means that Nicolas Cage doesn't even have to try to act. You already know what's going on in his head!

The sad part? Tom Hanks almost took the roll of Charlie Kaufman.

Sweet Dreams!