Unlike in “Being John Malkovich,” there’s no trapdoor into Charlie Kaufman’s mind. Once you enter the quicksand in his head, you’re stuck — slowly drowning in his thoughts. Don’t fight it because you’ll soon realize that it’s exactly where you want to be. With their second collaboration to date, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman present us with the gift that is “Adaptation.”

Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is the lead character in his own screenplay. He’s overweight, balding, hates himself and sweats around any women he deems attractive. This may sound odd, but his identical twin Donald is the polar opposite. He’s delightful, loves life and is a huge flirt.

As “Being John Malkovich” is filming, Charlie is offered the task of adapting a screenplay based on a novel entitled “The Orchid Thief.” His insecurities begin as he meets with studio executive Valerie Thomas (Tilda Swinton) to discuss his ideas. He’s a sweaty mess — bullets dripping down his head as stumbles over his own words.

As time goes on, he has trouble writing the script. He can’t decide how to keep true to the book while trying not to diminish the importance of the ghost orchid. Meanwhile, Donald is writing a cliché psychological thriller entitled “The Three” and seems to be moving along without a problem in the world. With the help of his brother, Charlie realizes he needs to stop avoiding the situation and meet with the author of the book, Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep). They soon find out that Orlean has become romantically involved with the main character of her novel, John LaRoche (Chris Cooper). The pair catch Charlie snooping around their place and in a drug induced state, kidnap him and hold him hostage while deciding what to do with him.

We all know the many ups and downs of Nicolas Cage. His performance in this film is the peak of his acting career. He will never grace us with a better performance, short of reprising the same role, which would make no sense at all. He is brilliant as a talented man held prisoner to his own thoughts and insecurities — as well as the clueless brother without a care in the world.

Aside from his performance as the hard-headed, emotionally abusive husband and father in “American Beauty,” this is Chris Cooper is at his best. He takes his character to a level I’ve never seen before. He has mood swings about as much as a menopausal woman. It’s hard to hate yourself and it’s hard to love yourself, but to embrace both at the same time is near impossible. Not for Cooper, though, which is why he is the sole Oscar recipient in this film.

There’s not much to say about Meryl Streep. She continues to be the best actress in the world. Her performance is frightening as a well-together socialite who falls to the bottom with the help of drugs and bad company.

“Adaptation.” is one of my favorite films of all time. Spike Jonze is a treasure and I think we’ve only begun to see the talent he has to give us. This film is amazingly written and unbelievably finished.