Compared To What?

Andy Klein's review of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York starts thus:

Charlie Kaufman is perhaps the closest thing in contemporary Hollywood to an “auteur screenwriter.” And, while his work may have connections to the likes of Pinter and Beckett, he’s singular nonetheless.

Surely this is wrong. Pinter and Beckett are noted for being spare. Kaufman throws everything he's got into his screenplays, so much so that they start bending into themselves. If I'd compare him to anyone, it would be a self-referential ponderer like Borges, or maybe Stanislaw Lem.