There's no good reason why this should work-the picture is a schizzy, self-indulgent mess-but magically, it does.

| Mar 16, 2020

Adult stuff only but hilarious and fresh.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 2, 2010

In the wrong hands, the lunacy could have gotten out of control, but Jonze has near-perfect pitch. He never forces the farce, rooting even Kaufman's wildest digressions in real emotions.

| Jul 6, 2010

For two-thirds of its running time the film is close to genius. But there's still no third act.

| Jun 24, 2006

Just go see it. Immediately. Today. There are far too few films that make one giddy and excited about the art of making movies. Adaptation is one of them, and it is for the ages.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 19, 2003

It's the sort of movie that keeps reinventing itself and nudging us in the ribs as it does. You'll want to see it soon, because everyone you know will be talking about it.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Apr 27, 2003

Cage gives one of the best performances of his recent career as the Kaufmans. He's a natural in this role, especially when that great horse face breaks into an ingratiating grin...

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 25, 2003

Both Kaufmans are played by Nicolas Cage, whose goofy, moon-faced sincerity has never been put to funnier use.

| Mar 7, 2003

Charlie Kaufman is a genius.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 4, 2003

Few recent movies have conveyed so forcefully how people can feel shut out by their own lack of passion, how they yearn to end the emptiness.

Full Review | Jan 16, 2003

Mired in the inertia of Charlie's writer's block, as if the real Kaufman never found his own passion for the material.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jan 10, 2003

One-of-a-kind near-masterpiece.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 9, 2003

Adaptation is probably the ultimate writers' film, but it's also a brash, daring, and dynamic film -- as delicate as an orchid but as durable and malleable as the species.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 23, 2002

Adaptation may not be the first movie to examine the creative process. But it's the most playfully brilliant.

| Dec 20, 2002

Adaptation is simply brilliant.

| Dec 20, 2002

Probably the most creative and noncommercial screenplay to be embraced by a Hollywood studio in years.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 20, 2002

Gradually the movie's one joke plays out, and Charlie's doubts about inserting himself into his own screenplay prove to be well-founded.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 20, 2002

It will surprise you. It will delight you. It will give you something truly chewy to take home from the theater.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 20, 2002

It's the most original, exhilarating and hilarious movie of the year.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 20, 2002

Kaufman's carefully constructed screenplay emphasizes so many layers of duality, it's beyond gimmick. It's a world view.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 20, 2002