Adaptation - A film about flowers (apparently)

Oh, where to begin with 'Adaptation...' It's a film written by Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who then makes the main character himself, only played by Nicolas Cage (playing both Kaufman himself and his twin brother - so you get 'double Cage' for your money!).  Cage plays Kaufman as he struggles to write a screenplay about a woman looking for a rare type of orchid in the swamps of America and the film itself is about Kaufman being unable to write this script.  Can anyone say 'meta?'

If you watched the (beautifully twisted) 'Being John Malkovich' then you'll probably think that you know Kaufman's writing.  However, 'Adaptation' is set in the 'real' world where 'BJM' is actually a movie and referenced in the story. 'Adaptation' isn't half as twisted and koookie (or supernatural) as its more famous predecessor, but what it lacks in its wackiness, it more than makes up for in being generally hard to follow.

That works (and it doesn't).  The plus points are that it's a film that, if you sit down and really go with it, then you'll probably get a lot out of it and enjoy the - difficult - ride.  However, if you're looking for something a little less taxing on the ol' 'grey matter' then this will probably lose you because you'll never know what's meant to be real, what's imaginary and what's somewhere between the two.

Nicholas Cage is great (as both his roles), so if you're a fan then you'll definitely get more out of this.  His role does mean he's actually been forced to dial down his 'larger than life' on-screen personas that he's recently become famous for playing.  I know Meryl Streep is an excellent actress, but I got the impression that her role could probably have been played by many other actresses of a similar age.

It's not a film I think many people could watch multiple times in quick succession (I've only watched it the twice since its release in 2002 - and I probably won't view it again for at least a decade).  If you like fancy films which take a little more concentration to follow then you should like this, however you may feel that sometimes it tries a little too hard to be 'out there' and accidentally disappears up itself with its desperation to try hard to be different to the rest.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that