In theaters

ADAPTATION. Directed by Spike Jonze, written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman, 114 minutes, rated R. Starts tonight, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville.

The terrific new Spike Jonze movie, “Adaptation,” begins in pitch darkness, over which comes a frantic voice that plunges the viewer straight into the panic of a man facing a daunting task he knows he can’t pull off.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter what that task is. There isn’t a person out there who, at some point in their lives, can’t relate to coming up short, being in over their head, unable to deliver the goods – failing – and beating themselves up for it. To that end, “Adaptation” will find an audience in everyone as its story – at its core – is about everyone.

To be specific, the man having the meltdown is Charlie Kaufman, the neurotic real-life screenwriter of “Being John Malkovich,” which Jonze also directed, who was hired to turn Susan Orlean’s best-selling book “The Orchid Thief” into a movie.

It’s a task the emotionally distraught, self-deprecating Kaufman, brilliantly played by Nicolas Cage in his best performance in years, found nearly impossible to do. Indeed, the book itself – written in a high-minded, arm’s length prose radically different from Kaufman’s own quirky style – doesn’t exactly beg for the big-screen treatment.

Still, Kaufman was hired to do the job and he had no choice but to press on, in spite of the apparent consequences to his health and sanity.

The result didn’t become a literal screen adaptation of “The Orchid Thief,” as was planned.

Instead, it became “Adaptation,” a film that chronicles Kaufman’s struggle to adapt the book while also being a movie based on the book. It’s a movie within a movie, and in this excellent film, by far one of 2002’s best, the two stories collide spectacularly.

Since so much of “Adaptation’s” success depends on its series of jolts and surprises, it’s important to reveal as little of what ensues as possible.

What can be said is this: The film blends elements of fact and fiction, comedy and drama, blurring the lines between each for three-quarters of the film before letting loose with an outrageous ending that culls some of the biggest, smartest laughs of the year as well as pure elements of horror.

What it becomes is exactly what Kaufman wanted to avoid when he first began writing – a gross Hollywood farce punched up for the masses with guns, blood, boobs and bullets. That it becomes just that is ultimately intentional and says plenty about our culture and the current state of filmmaking in Hollywood – though for reasons I’ll leave for you.

There are Academy Award-worthy performances by Cage as Charlie and also as his fictional twin brother, Donald, a bumbling screenwriter who has all the confidence and luck Charlie lacks; Meryl Streep as Orlean, who it must be said, has an amazing sense of humor about herself; and Chris Cooper as John Laroche, the hillbilly botanist with surprisingly sharp, poetic insights into life and the orchids he steals. What’s great about “Adaptation” is how it skirts formula while also courting it, pushing down new paths to offer something familiar that no one has seen before.

Grade: A

On video and DVD

SIGNS, Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, 120 minutes, Rated PG-13.

M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs” might not rise to the level of his best film, “The Sixth Sense,” but it isn’t as fragile as “Unbreakable” and it isn’t a total misfire. Initially, it’s absorbing, a beautifully shot, well-acted B movie with a handful of A-level moments.

In the film, Mel Gibson is Graham Hess, a former minister who loses his faith after the unexpected death of his wife, Colleen (Patricia Kalember), six months before.

Living on a farm in Bucks County, Pa., Hess is trying to forget the past while raising his two children, Morgan and Bo (Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin), with the help of his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), when, out of nowhere, a gathering of mysterious crop circles appear in the cornfields surrounding Graham’s house.

At first, Graham and Merrill believe the circles are a hoax, the work of a meddling neighbor, but they’re not.

Indeed, before you know it, alien spaceships are everywhere and Shyamalan is rolling in the paranoia of 1950s sci-fi cinema. It’s here, in the film’s involving first hour, that the director generates his most compelling sense of suspense and dread before delivering a disappointing second half whose pat ending is upstaged by Shyamalan’s own self-promotion by casting himself in a crucial role, a series of melodramatic flashbacks and Hess’ predictable reconciliation with his lost faith.

Grade: B-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays and Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video/DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores, starting alphabetically with the most current releases.

The Good Girl ? A-

Signs ? B-

Barbershop ? B+

Lovely and Amazing ? A

XXX ? B

The Adventures of Pluto Nash ? F

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever ? F

Blood Work ? B-

Trapped ? C-

Baran ? A-

Minority Report ? A-

Unfaithful ? B-

Halloween: Resurrection ? F

K-19: The Widowmaker ? C+

Stuart Little 2 ? A-

Austin Powers in

Goldmember ? B-

Lilo & Stitch ? B+

Ice Age ? B

Men in Black II ? C-

Sunset Boulevard (DVD) ? A+

Reign of Fire ? C+

Spirit: Stallion of the A

Cimarron ? B+

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing ? A

Bad Company ? D

The Importance of Being Earnest ? B-

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones ? C+

Pumpkin ? C+

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys ? B-

The Powerpuff Girls Movie ? B

The Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood ? B+

Eight Legged Freaks ? B

Spider-Man ? A-

Sum of All Fears ? D

E.T.: 20th Anniversary Edition ? A

Mr. Deeds ? D

Insomnia ? A

Life or Something Like It ? B-

Scooby-Doo ? C-

Windtalkers ? C-

Big Trouble ? D

Enough ? C-

Jason X ? Bomb

Brotherhood of the Wolf ? B

The Scorpion King ? B

Enigma ? C

Monsoon Wedding ? A-

Murder by Numbers ? C

Death to Smoochy ? B+

40 Days and 40 Nights ? C-

Monsters, Inc. ? A-

Panic Room ? B

Changing Lanes ? B

Count of Monte Cristo ? B+

Frailty ? C-

Blade II: B+

High Crimes ? C

Queen of the Damned ? C-

Iris ? B

Joe Somebody ? D

The Rookie ? A-

The Sweetest Thing ? D+

We Were Soldiers ? B+

Birthday Girl ? B

The Business of Strangers ? B

Clockstoppers ? C

In the Bedroom ? A

The New Guy ? D

Showtime ? C+

Deuces Wild ? D-

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ? B+

Collateral Damage ? D

Dragonfly ? D

Resident Evil ? C-

Crossroads ? C-

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist: B-

The Time Machine ? D-

Amelie ? A

John Q. ? C-

Pinero ? B

Charlotte Gray ? B+

Hart’s War ? B

The Royal Tenenbaums ? B+

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ? B+

Shallow Hal ? C

A Beautiful Mind ? B

Gosford Park ? B+

I Am Sam ? C

The Majestic ? D-

Max Keeble’s Big Move ? B

Orange County ? C-

The Shipping News ? C

Rollerball ? F

Black Hawk Down ? B

Kate & Leopold ? C+

Monster’s Ball ? A

The Mothman Prophecies ? C

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ? B 3/4

Sidewalks of New York ? B-

Lantana ? A

Vanilla Sky ? B+

Corky Romano ? D-

From Hell ? C

The Others ? B+

Snow Dogs ? B-

Ocean’s Eleven ? B

Waking Life ? A

Ali ? B+

Not Another Teen Movie ? C-

Behind Enemy Lines ? C-

No Man’s Land ? A

Black Knight ? F

The Deep End ? A

Domestic Disturbance ? C

The Man Who Wasn’t There ? B+

Mulholland Drive ? A

Spy Game ? C+

Bandits ? D

13 Ghosts ? F

Donnie Darko ? B

K-Pax ? B-

Life as a House ? C

Original Sin ? F

Our Lady of the Assassins ? B+

Riding in Cars with Boys ? B-

Training Day ? B-

Heist ? B+

Joy Ride ? B+

Zoolander ? C-

A.I. ? B-

The Last Castle ? C-

Sexy Beast ? B+

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back ? F

The Musketeer ? D-

The Taste of Others ? A-

Don’t Say a Word ? C-

Hardball ? C+

O ? B+

Hearts in Atlantis ? B

Life Without Dick ? D

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin ? D

Ghost World ? A