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Review
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Charlie Kaufman is given the task of writing a screenplay
based on a book by Susan Orlean about a man caught stealing
orchids. His twin brother Donald is an aspiring
screenwriter with trite ideas for a new thriller. They
become embroiled with Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) is
secretly having an affair with the subject of her book.
Is this about identity? Are the twins actually one? How
much is fantasy and how much "reality" in this provocative
but ultimately unsatisfying exploration of the relationship
of writing to real life, of passion to vicarious experience?
The principles are all good, and the script is interesting,
but when it diverges into Donald's fantasies in the last
half, the movie loses some energy. To add to the coyness,
the book by Susan Orlean is real, and real actors appear in
the film as themselves (Catherine Keener, John Cusack) or,
of course, as "characters". There is some reflection on the
elusive nature of orchids, the passion some eccentric people
have for collecting them, no matter what the cost.
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