Adaptation

Eighteen months ago, I wrote in review of Being John Malkovich: The worst thing a piece of comedy can do is, in the process of not taking itself seriously, forget to take its characters seriously. This film is deeply funny, and deeply weird, but Kaufman remembers every step of the way that these people are real, that they want things and feel things. (And I'm sure there are a lot of interesting things it's saying at a metatextual level, but I figure I should finish watching Adaptation before I mull on those too heavily.) And now, having finally watched Adaptation, I feel as though I can adequately comment. This is the first Kaufman film that has left me with a lesser level of respect for him than before. It has moments of greatness, many of them not owing themselves to the script. Streep's performance, both comedically and somberly, is brilliant — a couple of shots of her transfixed in thought, in particular the scene where she watches Laroche make a sundial (or the moment a few…