Jack Benjamin at 2011-07-22 07:25:18:

I think it's hard to analyze Charlie Kaufman's work like you would another screenwriter. You can see how much he loathes traditional screenwriting theory (the McKee stuff, etc.). He doesn't really like structure and arc as much as journey, and usually a twisted journey. If you read an early draft of Malkovich you can see just how far he goes. The fact that there is structure and arc in Adaptation is something he seems uncomfortable with, represented by the side of his personality that he detests but still acknowledges (the Donald side). Susan and Laroche are two sides of the same coin too. Susan is seduced by the wild, unstructred, haluconogenic hunter's life of Laroche and abandons her "safe" writing career for it. On the other hand, Charlie is seduced by Donald's structured, safe, rote writing style, and in the end he succumbs to it. Of course the real Charlie Kaufman is the Laroche of Hollywood, but the movie is such a great insight to his paranoia and his conflict between creativity and commercialism. I love Kaufman.

Jeffrey at 2011-07-22 07:58:38:

For me, this is one of the most important movies of the previous decade.

Talk about the the ultimate cause/effect in a script... Charlie adamantly states during his nervous lunch with the studio exec: "Okay. But, I'm saying, it's like, I don't want to cram in sex or guns or car chases, you know... or characters, you know, learning profound life lessons or growing or coming to like each other or overcoming obstacles to succeed in the end, you know. I mean... The book isn't like that, and life isn't like that. You know, it just isn't. And... I feel very strongly about this."

And, of course, Adaptation itself ends with sex and guns and car chases and profound life lessons. Meta storytelling x 100!

When people dump on Nicholas Cage (and they have good reason to considering some of his career choices), I simply point them to this film... he's absolutely stunning in this role... er, roles.

Such a masterwork.

Jack Benjamin at 2011-07-22 08:04:20:

Nicholas Cage is great in this. So good you forget he's Nicholas Cage. Yeah, some of his choices have been horrible, but he really can transform himself for his roles which is more than a lot of stars out there. My favorite of his is Moonstruck.

Scott at 2011-07-22 14:24:06:

@Jack: Great analysis. I'd never thought of it, but I think that's an interesting lens through which to look at the real Charlie Kaufman: the Laroche of Hollywood.

If you don't mind, I'm going to update the OP with your analysis. Thanks.

Adam at 2011-07-22 15:44:25:

I might be the only person on the planet who didn't like Adaptation. I love Charlie Kaufman and I love his work how you always know it's not going to be ordinary; however, I thought the movie as a whole was so tonally inconsistent. It's a drama, it's a comedy, it's a thriller, to me it kind of just picked whatever it wanted to be by scene. Not saying that it needs to be consistent but by the end of the movie, I felt like the final act was part of some other movie and not this one. Love love love Being John Malkovich on the other hand.

Blog Writing Assignment-Adaptation | mmcnab at 2012-07-09 17:15:46:

[...] http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2011/07/great-character-charlie-and-donald.html This article looks at the relationship between Charlie and Donald, comparing their relationship to the relationship of Orlean and Laroche in Orlean’s novel as the same thing. [...]