Adaptation.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I saw Adaptation last night, and I enjoyed it very much. Yet, at the same time, I wonder if it would have been better had it not taken the third-act turn. The film is one of the most interesting experiments I've seen, but I somewhat wish we hadn't experimented on these characters.

 

(PS: If you haven't seen the movie, I don't think you'll follow. Go watch football, it's divisonal weekend. Go Jets.)

 

The ending of the film was set up and executed expertly. Starting when Donald arrives in New York to help Charlie with the script, those 30 minutes transform Adaptation from what it was into a standard, absolutey by-the-numbers thriller. From the "Happy Together" stuff to the frickin' time-lapse shot of the orchids to the alligator, it was done perfectly on levels both broad and subtle, never missing a beat in creating the epitome of formulaic Hollywood thriller. It was hilarious, though I'm pretty sure most of the massively confused and bored theater didn't get it.

 

It's well done as a dive into absolute irony--the third act has layers a-plenty, but the foremost one is a full embrace of everything Donald's movie would likely become, not Charlie's. The ending is funny and clever up the wazoo, but I'd already gotten the point without the example. I appreciate the experiment, but before the very clear switch in approach Adaptation was becoming exactly what Charlie Kaufman (the character) wanted it to be: a story about people that is non-exploitative and honest, that doesn't shy away from disappointment, and that doesn't wade through heavy-handed life-lessons. I was disappointed to see the characters fall so quickly into farce and strings of contrivances. I was disappointed to see the film that had Elvis Costello's "Allison" playing softly in the background of a sad scene of lost love give way to cheesy, generic suspense music.

 

But maybe that's the point. Adaptation is wonderful in some ways and disappointing in others. Seems like it's exactly what Charlie Kaufman wanted. Whatever the sum of this is, I know I'm compelled to see this movie again, and soon.

 

What are your thoughts on this remarkable movie?

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

I liked how the last third tied in with the beggining of the movie. Like when the studio woman suggested Orlean and the Orchid guy fall in love, and especially when the guy from the seminar tells Charlie to basically bullshit an ending that has nothing to do with the book and he'll be fine, and so that's what he does.

 

But most importantly, oh god this movie was funny. So funny.

 

"I can't belive I got shot! Isn't that fucked up?!" "Shut up Donald!"

 

When Donald talks about "Machine vs. Horse" and Charlie says "The're still all the same person right?"

 

Or when Donald reads the Orchid script and the first thing he says is "You kinda made fun of me in the script, huh."

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

I loved it. One of my 5 favourite movies of 2002. I understand what you mean about the 3rd act, but I thought it fit in perfectly. Great screenwriting.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I liked how the last third tied in with the beggining of the movie. Like when the studio woman suggested Orlean and the Orchid guy fall in love, and especially when the guy from the seminar tells Charlie to basically bullshit an ending that has nothing to do with the book and he'll be fine, and so that's what he does.

Yes, it was all set perfectly. But you weren't bothered at all by the fact that a really great story about really interesting people was thrown to the wolves for the sake of a really clever joke? It's a very good joke, and it doesn't entirely dilute the film's proposition, but it does strip it down substantially.

 

Don't get me wrong, I dig the movie. It just pulls me in so many different directions of approval and disapproval and I was wondering if anyone felt the same way.

[Guest godthedog]

i personally have some problems with that last act. i wanted to laugh at all of it, but i couldn't because it felt like kaufman & jonze were trying really hard to actually be sincere with the chase scene, the cheesy revelation, etc. it seemed to me like they were trying to make it succeed on both the generic hollywood level and the satirical level, and ended up accomplishing neither. they just didn't go balls-out enough on the satire. if they weren't taking the ending seriously, where's charlie's requisite screaming "why, damn you? WHY?" when his brother dies? where's the confrontation with the femme fatale (streep in this case) where they shoot off really bad action movie dialogue and get in a fight? to me, it was like kaufman was trying to satirize "the formula" and still let the audience care about the characters, which kept him from doing what he could've done with it. the idea to end it like that was absolute genius, but the execution was uninspired.

 

that's the impression i got from the whole movie in general: great ideas, subpar execution. it just didn't have the same manic energy that 'being john malkovich' had, which would throw out idea after idea (hey, he works on the 7 1/2 floor! hey, he finds a portal inside john malkovich's head! hey, he gets dumped on the side of the new jersey turnpike!) and totally disarm you & leave you staring in awe. the execution was assured and perfect. in 'adaptation', the ideas are thrown out more slowly and clumsily. it felt like there was this little epiphany that should've gone off in my head when i realized that streep & cooper were falling in love (which is exactly what kaufman DIDN'T want to do, of course), but i just went, "oh, okay," and waited for the next thing to come at me. that's how i reacted to a lot of the ideas that were thrown at me. i wanted to be elated by it all, like i was elated by BJM (BJM stands for blow job man! ha ha ha ha!), but i couldn't quite get excited by it. it kept teetering on this edge of greatness, but they couldn't nudge it off.

 

not to say i didn't enjoy it. the scene where kaufman tries to ask out the waitress is perfect, & probably the best scene in the movie--funny but painful to watch. donald's dialogue straight from mckee's teachings is great (finding out what genre he is, using the recurring image of the mirrors, the ten commandments, etc). and all the ideas for this twisted, brilliant metamovie are there. it just needed some revising, & jonze could've spiced up his directing some more.

[Guest Dmann2000]

i personally have some problems with that last act. i wanted to laugh at all of it, but i couldn't because it felt like kaufman & jonze were trying really hard to actually be sincere with the chase scene, the cheesy revelation, etc. it seemed to me like they were trying to make it succeed on both the generic hollywood level and the satirical level, and ended up accomplishing neither.

The way I see it, he didn't want to go over the top with it because them it would be obvious that the ending was a cliche, and even cliched Hollywood films are blatant like that, not the good ones at least. I mean both Psycho and Silence of the Lambs have their fair share of cliches, but they're still good. It isn't parody, it's satire. Right up to the final credit "In loving memory of Donald Kaufmann".

 

I'm so glad the film didn't end with the two writing the script that we just saw onscreen. Or show the real Kaufmann writing the script. Or have someone yell cut and pullback to reveal they were making a movie. For any film about filmmaking or satirizing cliches THAT is an overused cliche in itself. The film walks a very fine line but I think the satire at the end works brilliantly. Of course, I'm a Motion Pictures major in college so I've become very ingrained in all of this.

[Guest godthedog]

Of course, I'm a Motion Pictures major in college so I've become very ingrained in all of this.

as am i. just a difference of taste on the ending: i didn't think it quite worked, others did. it seemed to me, especially the way jonze filmed it, that the movie was trying to have its cake and eat it too, and the result just wasn't that funny to me. i don't know how kaufman wanted it filmed, but i think jonze may have dropped the ball on this one. he had this brilliant, daring script that did all these different things, and he filmed it almost identically to the way anyone in hollywood would've filmed it. kaufman's trying all sorts of things with the script, but jonze isn't trying anything with the camera. or the sound for that matter. kaufman took all these chances, and jonze didn't take one. i think that's a huge shame. he could've done long takes, noncontinuous editing, ANYTHING to make the style of the movie reflect the story in some way. not only would this have made the first 2/3 of the movie even better, he could've left the last 1/3 exactly as is (with cliched editing, music, camera, etc) and it would've been a hell of a lot funnier.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

well, obviously I loved it or I wouldn't have quoted it in my sig

[Guest MDH257]

Good movie, but I was disapointed by the end as well. I was actually interested in Kauffman, Orlean, and Laroach's stories and was hoping to see where they were going with it. The ending is funny in parts and I understood the irony, but I was just hoping to see the end of the move we had just wathed the first hour of.

 

Good movie though.