This is my favourite movie but it is designed for adults. I'd definitely recommend it for older teens.
Adaptation
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Adult stuff only but hilarious and fresh.
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 15–16
What to watch out for
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Violence:
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Sex:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Adaptation was written by Nell Minow
Parents need to know that the movie has very mature material, including very strong language, brief nudity, sexual references and situations (including masturbation and a porn Web site), drinking, smoking, and drug use. The movie has quasi-comic violence, but characters are injured and killed. Characters break the law, including stealing from nature preserves and making psychotropic drugs.
Families Can Talk About
Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
- Families can talk about how we chose our passions - or whether they choose us. Do Laroche and Orlean envy each other? Does Charlie envy Donald? Why did Charlie the real-life screenwriter divide himself in two in the movie portrayal? Why did he take real-life characters like Susan Orlean and John Laroche and have their movie characters do things that they never did? What do you learn from Laroche's reason for not fixing his teeth? If you were going to re-create yourself as a movie character, what would you write? This movie both uses and makes fun of many movie conventions - which ones did you spot?
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More on Adaptation
What’s the Story?
Hired to adapt Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief for the screen, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) struggles with the project. His self-doubt, underscored by the contrast with his confident identical twin brother Donald (also played by Cage), becomes an almost insurmountable obstacle. The film also depicts the process that Orlean (Meryl Streep) goes through as she tries to write about John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a man utterly obsessed with rare orchids. Orlean gradually realizes that she's not just writing about Laroche or about orchids but about the nature of obsession itself. In a way, she becomes obsessed with obsession. Meanwhile, while Donald casually dashes off a ludicrous screenplay about a serial killer with multiple personalities, utterly unconcerned about issues like consistency, Charlie agonizes about the imperviousness of Orlean's book.
Is It Any Good?
Like real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's other films ( Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Adaptation has moments of bizarre humor in the context of profound and genuine questions about identity, inversion, inspiration, obsession, and meaning and meta-meaning and meta-meta-meaning. It has some sharp Hollywood satire and some wildly funny plot twists. This is the kind of movie that makes fun of emotional turning points inspired by platitudes but then, when it throws one in (in the middle of a jungle environment that is real and symbolic), it's a very nice one: "You are what you love, not what loves you."
The performances are marvelous, particularly Streep as Orlean and Cooper as Laroche. Ron Livingston's performance as Charlie's agent is a small comic gem, Brian Cox is masterful as a screenwriting expert, and Judy Greer is radiant as an orchid-loving, pie-serving waitress.
Movie Details
Studio: Columbia Tristar, Director: Spike Jonze
Run time: 114 minutes
Theatrical release: 1/10/2003, DVD release: 5/20/2003
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexuality, some drug use and violent images
Run time: 114 minutes
Theatrical release: 1/10/2003, DVD release: 5/20/2003
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexuality, some drug use and violent images
Our Members Say
See all 4 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
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I rate this title on for age 15 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
Wonderful but mature film
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I rate this title pause for age 17 and give it
Not for kids at all... the Violence should have scored a "RED"
the violence in this film is very graphic. Car accidents have strong suprise element and are designed to shock the viewer: they are very realistic. My husband and I still refer to it as one of the scariest things we've seen because it is so realistically violent: you felt you were there...
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I rate this title pause for age 13 and give it
Interesting, offbeat film not for kids
The end was a bit hokey, but the story until then was pretty interesting and engaging.
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I rate this title pause for age 0 and give it
A Great Writer's Movie
My favorite movie of all time. Great flick. See it.
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Ratings at a Glance
| 100% | of parents say it has language their kids can't use |
| 100% | of parents say the sexual behavior isn't age appropriate |
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