Adaptation

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper

Directed by: Spike Jonze

Running Time: 112 minutes

Rated R

3 1/2 Gus heads

Can anyone hear another Oscar acceptance speech from Nicholas Cage blowing in the wind?

No. The chance of that is about as likely as Saddam Hussein being elected president of the United States.

Really, this is too bad. In Spike Jonze's "Adaptation," Cage gets a chance to do what he hasn't done in a while - act. As it turns out, he can do this splendidly well when he's not serving as set dressing in a Jerry Bruckheimer opus or trying to save a wretched World War II movie.

But in this year's field of best actor nominees, which also includes Academy favorites Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis, Cage is almost the least likely to walk away with a statuette come Sunday night.

Forget about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding;" "Adaptation" will go down in history as 2003's great Oscar snub. Although the film is in the running for three other awards, it can't beat the razzle-dazzle of "Chicago" or the epic grandiosity of "Gangs of New York."

In the end, it can't do anything other than be its weird, quirky self and silently laugh to itself about how it's smarter than 95 percent of the films that came out last year.

Maybe that's the way this film would want it. Using an autobiographical Charlie Kaufman script about an aging screenwriter trying to adapt Susan Orlean's book "The Orchid Thief," "Adaptation" tells no lies about how weird it is; in fact, it tends to revel in it. But with show-stopping performances from Cage (playing Kaufman and his fictional twin brother, Donald), Meryl Streep as Orlean and Chris Cooper ("American Beauty") as John Laroche, a Florida flower thief who becomes the object of Orlean's obsession, "Adaptation" takes on an almost-elegant tone.

Cage chews into his role as Kaufman, a fat, balding, sweaty and socially inept screenwriter whose latest project, an adaptation of Orlean's book, is driving him crazy. All the while, he plays off of his brother, Donald, a more upbeat aspiring screenwriter who is working on his own cliché-driven script. But, for all of Donald's optimism, Charlie can't get his mind into the game, instead allowing the story to twist and turn through his brain until, inexplicably, he finds himself as a part of the story.

Thus, one of the most biting satires against the Hollywood method begins. When the brothers Kaufman begin to tail Orlean and Laroche in hopes of finding an original story, they discover a web of sleazy affairs and hokey crime plots that would make for the perfect cliché-ridden script. In truth, the film's final half hour is almost a test of reality, an epic distortion of fact that ends up being sad, funny and insightful in one broad stroke. Not to mention creepy.

Regardless, though, it makes for one of the year's most unique films, although it was without a doubt alienating to many Academy voters. Hopefully it still has a spot to shine. Cooper, a character actor unmatched in range, explodes in the role of Laroche and will hopefully get some recognition in the best supporting actor category, and the screenplay should be able to nail its category.

But, in the end, these are pretty small cookies. For better or worse, "Adaptation" is a low-key film that drips of class but can't really catch the eye of Oscar.

And unless something goes incredibly against logic, we'll be watching Jack steal Nick's fire come Sunday night.