6. Adaptation

For their second collaboration, director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman took Susan Orlean's book "The Orchid Thief" and encased in it intricate layers of fear, doubt, and running self-commentary. The question is: How does art mutate into crap? Nicolas Cage plays Kaufman and his twin brother, Donald. Meryl Streep has a ball as Orlean. And Chris Cooper plays her orchid man. They all ride this movie into the loony bin, bravely proposing that the only way to be free from the bear trap of success is to chew off your leg.