I’m never sure how to respond when someone says they like a movie because it’s about life. Every movie is about life, even the ones that are about death. The intelligence of writer Charlie Kaufman’s and director Spike Jonze’s Adaptation. is that it confronts this pomposity by examining a screenwriter’s attempt to pen an arty "life movie," while he lives in fear of human experience. The writer in the film is also Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicolas Cage), who’s struggling to adapt Susan Orlean’s non-fiction book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay. Yet to bask in the fame attained from his Being John Malkovich script (which we see is still in production during Adaptation.), Charlie is a nervous wreck, suffering writer’s block, hypochondria, and the persistent taunting of his confident twin brother (also Cage) who’s writing a film about a cannibalistic serial killer. In a last ditch effort to have something occur in his narrative, Charlie writes himself into The Orchid Thief, breaking his own rule that films would be more like life if they avoided conflict. Charlie’s thinking doesn’t take into account that popular films -- from Star Wars to Jackass -- reflect popular cultural attitudes. Adaptation. avoids this logical pratfall, throwing in an obligatory third act chase sequence, and playing with the worn movie cliche of a character’s multiple personalities. Cage hasn’t had this much freedom to flaunt his maniacal talents in years. Despite Jonze’s murky visual style (his images in music videos show more invention than his film work), the movie sharply delineates the relationship between art and reality. Building Charlie’s psychosis upon pathetic delusion, there’s integrity and heart beneath Adaptation.’s obvious cleverness. As Charlie struggles to move beyond self-obsession, the title earns its double-meaning. It’s an often hilarious endeavor that’s bizarre without reeking of calculated preciousness.