I love this scene so damn much. That's all I've got to say. Actually, that's not true. I love this movie so damn much, I have to say that too. It's phenomenal, seen by far too few.

Oh, and let's not overlook the fact that Donald was also a co-nominee for an Academy Award, and rightly so. He's really goddam amazing at structure.

I too love this movie. Not to everyone's taste but I love it.

Vic and blknwite, I concur. I've seen the movie numerous times and use it in one of my college courses where we break it down scene by scene, character by character. I remember when it first came out, there were a number of film critics whose review was basically this: The story is fine until it hits the third act, then it goes off the rails. But that was the whole point of the ending. As "McKee" tells Charlie: "Tell you a secret. The last act makes the film. You can have an uninvolving, tedious movie, but wow them at the end, and you've got a hit." So Act Three is spying on Orlean, flying to Florida, staking out Laroche, watching Orlean and Laroche doing drugs and having sex, getting caught and taken hostage, taken out into the swamp to shoot Charlie, Donald helping Charlie escape, a chase, hiding, a morning confession and bonding moment with the brothers, a shoot-out, crocodile kills Laroche, an escape attempt by car, car crash, Donald dies, "So Happy Together." Kaufman metaphorically tossed in everything but the kitchen sink to "wow them at the end." And yet some critics didn't get that, thought the movie somehow lost its way. Brilliant movie. As much as I love Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine, this movie is perhaps the Kaufman movie I enjoy the most

Probably the only film in history where YOU, the audience member, are the punchline. Such a bold statement on modern cinematic storytelling. Perfection.

I love the twisty psychology of how when Charlie finally relents and goes to Donald to save his script, that's when the "sex and guns and car chases and characters learning profound life lessons or growing or coming to like each other or overcome obstacles to succeed in the end" start rolling in. Again, perfection!

My God. They didn't get that? Wait, did I get that when I first watched it? I'm really not sure, but it didn't take me long to cotton on. I like Malkovich a lot, and I think Eternal Sunshine is possibly the last jaw-droppingly brilliant movie I can think of, but on some level I still prefer Adaptation. It's not a screenwriting thing. I don't think. Neither is it because it proves that Nic Cage really can be a fine actor when the tax man isn't chasing him. I guess it's just because it's freaking awesome.