Following up on the left-field success of Being John Malkovich, director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann joined forces again for this similarly indescribable what's-it. Nicolas Cage stars as the screenwriter “Charlie Kaufman,” whose writer's block in penning a Hollywood adaptation of the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief is both hindered and destroyed by his twin brother “Donald” (also played by Cage), the swinging commercialist id to Charlie's repressed, artistic ego. A meta-commentary to end all meta-commentaries, Adapation blends fiction, film, and “reality” in a way few Hollywood films have ever done, with Cage a perfectly “meta” over-the-top star for this over-the-top film. Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, and Maggie Gyllenhaal costar, but the real draw is Jonze and Kaufman, two anarchists let loose in the studio system. As Peter Rainer wrote in New York Magazine, “Adaptation is a marvel of adaptation, entwined with its hothouse environment and yet stunningly unique.”