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Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a minimalistic review and the title explains how i feel about the movie. I'll add that the way 'depression' is brought to light in this flick is genius, and we get a quirky but realistic view of what goes on in a negative persons head. That's how i feel, or felt. Thanks for reading.

'Adaptation.' is one of the most original films I have recently viewed. Led by a (surprisingly) strong act by Nicolas Cage and supported by the always-brilliant Meryl Streep, 'Adaptation.' proudly stands out from the rest of modern day films, thanks to it's brilliant writing by Charlie Kaufman. By writing a film essentially about yourself, and your struggle to adapt a book into a film, 'Adaptation.' almost feels like a biography of Kaufman, and throughout the whole film you wonder to yourself if this actually happened. Is this what Kaufman went through while writing this movie? Despite it's brilliant writing, the film tended to feel quite dull and muddled within the first half of the film and even Cage's acting seemed unimpressive, and it was only when it had forty minutes left that it really picks itself up. You realise Cage's brilliance of acting while the pieces of the movie all come together. By then, the brilliance of the movie is realised and you leave knowing you watched a great film. However, the movie leads up to a great climax that never really occurs. While the ending of the movie is still a great one, it is not as spectacular as it builds up to be. I watched this film primarily for the reason of it starring Tilda Swinton, and although she was unfortunately only in a few scenes, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

For a good while into the movie, I wasn't quite sure how to take it. I was amused by the story, but couldn't decide for a while if Nicolas Cage's double was supposed to be real or an alter-ego offering Charlie Kaufman an alternative point of view. Turns out Donald Kaufman was a spitting image of Charlie, which of course makes sense because Cage was portraying both. I finally realized it when Donald kept popping up in various situations where other people recognized him as his own person. Glad I got that figured out early enough.Well this film isn't like many others. It's got a uniquely original premise which involves a screenwriter adapting a novel by the writer (Meryl Streep) who appears in the film, coming to terms with a person she's writing about, and quite unexpectedly, falls for (Chris Cooper), who's also in the movie. This all comes across in subtle and unsubtle ways, and if you're feeling confused by the end of the picture, not to worry, you won't be alone. I thought the picture was moving along pretty well until the debacle in the swamp. That all just defied credibility on too many levels.But the picture IS entertaining. Cage brings a Woody Allen type of nebbish-ness to his Charlie character, and for a time it feels like an Allen script in the early going. Cage has been in some God-awful stuff, but I actually enjoyed him in this one. There was a fascinating bit of trivia I noticed in the naming of one of the characters in the flick. One of the Indian assistants poaching the famed ghost orchid had the last name of Osceola, which was also the name of a pair of brothers in the 1948 film "Key Largo". Intentional as an homage? Only Charlie Kaufman would know, and he might have if he was either a Bogart or Lone Ranger fan. One of the Osceola Brothers in that movie was played by Jay Silverheels.

I hate when reviewers post a review of a movie they didn't even finish watching. The thing is...I turned this thing off...literally...before Cage finished his opening mind twisting monologue! There's a saying in evolution: adapt, or die. I'd rather die than watch this ridiculous movie.