It’s absurd. And it’s about writers. Actually, it’s a movie written by two brothers who wrote about one of the brothers having such a terrible time adapting a book by a New Yorker writer that he incorporated himself into the screenplay, which turned out to be salvageable, though entirely different than the book, thanks to the harsh words of another writer altogether.

I’m sorry — I should have stopped with absurd.

“Adaptation” is absurd. And it’s about writers. I’m a writer, and I enjoy absurdity. Absurdly, I don’t know how much I liked “Adaptation.”

Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage and Chris Cooper all portray characters based upon actual people: Streep is New Yorker writer Susan Orlean, Cooper is the orchid-obsessed John Laroche whom she chronicled and Cage is both of the “Adaptation” screenwriters, twin brothers Charlie and Donald Kaufman.

Though it may be a lost cause, I’m not trying to confuse you. Neither was Spike Jonze, the director who also worked with Charlie Kaufman to bring “Being John Malkovich” to the screen. Uniting the duo for this effort produces a similar effect — that is, confusion. But delightful, entertaining confusion.

The plot of this film is not necessarily as important as how the plot was created. The script was an outgrowth of Charlie Kaufman’s own struggle, despite the success of “Being John Malkovich,” to adapt Susan Orlean’s book “The Orchid Thief” into film format. Orlean’s book, which relies heavily on introspective prose rather than a linear plot, proved quite the monster even for Kaufman’s writing skills.

The idea to infuse his own role in the adaptation into the plot of the script shed hope upon what could have become a desperate situation. So rather than lifting only the themes from Orlean’s book, “Adaptation” begins to tell the ordeal the screenwriter went through adapting the author’s book about tracking a thief.

The hurdles extend beyond writer’s block, and come namely in the form of Charlie’s brother Donald, who, stuck in a rut and lying upon Charlie’s bedroom floor, decides the key to his woes is simply to become a screenwriter. And he knows how to do it, too — he’s read a book on the subject.

Enter another character based upon an actual writer, this time in the form of Robert McKee, author of “Story.” (During the screening, I excitedly whispered to another Daily editor that I, too, have read “Story.” The onslaught of in-film jokes about the fools who read how-to books about screenwriting promptly squashed the excitement, however.)

The portrayal of McKee makes for the dramatic voice-overs (a McKee no-no, ironically) used during the teaser trailers for “Adaptation,” and are delivered by Brian Cox (“Long Island Expressway”).

The essence of Orlean’s “The Orchid Thief” is captured in the orchid mania that draws in lovers of the exotic flowers around the world. Those with the same mania for films that prominently feature writers and the oft-unglamorous struggles of writers (Cage is featured in more than one scene as Charlie, desperately masturbating, whilst Donald is in the next room with his newfound lover) will find satisfaction in a plot that revolves around the lives of four writers and their subjects.

The insanity that invades the end of the film — reminiscent of “Being John Malkovich” —ÿis harder to swallow, actually, than the perplexity of the plot. It is hard, for example, to make too much sense of unannounced alligator wrestling and the sudden insistence of one writer to off the other. But these are handled with the grace and skill expected from this cast and director.

Fear not if you are not thrilled at the prospect of an adaptation of Orlean’s best-selling book. There is humor enough to entertain those not fixated on writers. But the cleverness of this all — the blurring of fact and fiction —ÿmakes “Adaptation” a good time.