This makes it sound like such a simple film, but it's anything but. This is a film within a novel within a film within another film, and yet as it bounces back and forth between different layers of fact and fiction, it touches on some amazingly thoughtful themes about love and self-respect. And it's absolutely hilarious as well--especially for film lovers who will spot all kinds of brilliant jabs and wry references that make the whole thing spring marvelously to life. Jonze's direction is sharp and wickedly funny, expertly edited to carry us through the multi-layered story and all the various asides.

The cast is nearly perfect. Streep nails her character so perfectly that she seems to not be acting at all; the Orlean character here is a real dark horse, with all kinds of unexpected elements to her just waiting to come out. Meanwhile, Cage gives one of his rare raw, selfless performances (two of them, actually)--pudgy, frumpy and frazzled, yet knowingly comic and surprisingly sympathetic. By putting himself in the story (and creating a fictional twin), Kaufman makes this into a sequel of sorts for Being John Malkovich, picking up on the same themes and running even further with them. On the surface it's about the nature of writing and creativity, the constraints of the business, and how commercial concerns seductively invade art. But it's also a film about pure passion on several levels, and how love of others and ourselves helps us adapt to our surroundings.