1. Good film that is definitely not for someone who just wants to find a film to laugh at or cry at. There is a lot of funny stuff here, though, and there are some agonizingly sad things.
2. Nicolas Cage is superb. I normally don't like Cage, but he convincingly plays two characters (two very different characters).
3. Meryl Streep is good, but this role really isn't that much of a stretch for her frankly.
4. Chris Cooper is great in a difficult role. I would have liked to find out more about Laroche, the serial passionist (you'll see), but I guess that was part of the point--that the book The Orchid Thief is not about the Orchid Thief, it's about Susan Orlean.
5. There are a few lines that are drop-dead hilarious:
"I like orchids." "COOL!"
"You can call the killer the Deconstructionist."
BIG SPOILERS!
6. Now...the ending. This is very controversial, as it is either clever or dumb. It ends in a typical Hollywood cliche way, with drugs, sex, shootouts, deux ex machinas, and character revelations/changes. Is that just sloppy writing or is it a clever send-up of Hollywood convention (typified by the fact that the fictional "Donald" has a screenwriting credit)? I would say definitely the latter, but it comes off as unsatisfactory because after about two minutes, the audience gets the joke already. The fact it goes on so long confuses/annoys the audience.
7. Really analyze a lot of the lines, especially what Charlie says at the beginning (like what he doesn't want the movie to be), Donald's story plot for the Three (to me, this has a lot to do with the story itself), and McKee's rules for good writing (voiceover/deux ex machina, anyone?).
8. All in all, it's a good but not great film. I mean, how can you really enjoy a film in which nothing happens?
