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77 Reviews
Stranger Than Fiction
I liked this movie a lot - it had elements of similarly themed films where fictional worlds intersect and influence the real world and vice versa, such as The Hours and The Purple Rose Of Cairo. Yet it takes this concept in a new direction and touches on the philosophies of choice and fate - if the story of our lives is already written, can we change the script? Does knowing what the future holds influence our lives or are we just following a predestined course whatever we do? As you might expect Marc Foster gives good and capable direction and there are lots of elements of the movie that were really very enjoyable. Some scenes are maybe drawn out too long, but for the most part he manages to keep the film flowing smoothly. The 'mathematical images' which beautifully illustrate the clockwork mind of Harold Crick are a great idea and reminiscent of the Ikea scene from Fight Club.
The acting on the whole was of an excellent standard. Will Ferrell's dry delivery was absolutely perfect for the role of a man with his fate in the hands of a seemingly unknown force. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah all give very respectable performances as does the relatively unknown Tony Hale. Yet I felt that the gem in this movie had to be Emma Thompson's performance as the neurotic and fidgety author Kay Eiffel who seems to become increasingly unstrung as the movie progresses. I was expecting a generic Hollywood romantic comedy yet the storyline was sufficiently quirky and engaging, and performances were superb.Read full review...
A Great Film With A Fun Cast And A Unique Story
Stranger than Fiction is a story about a dull IRS agent named Harold Crick whose life is turned upside down when he starts hearing a voice narrating his life. Will Ferrel shines in this lead role as a man who makes a transition from a dull and routine life to a vibrant and colorful one. The supporting cast is very strong with help from Dustin Hoffman and company. The story for this film is unique, fun, and memorable. Harold is an obsessive routine follower, counting the number of brush strokes he uses each morning as he cleans his teeth. Then, one day, his life is turned upside down as he begins to hear a voice narrate his every move and thought. He audits a beautiful and socially rebellious young woman who he falls in love with, and meets up with a quirky college professor who provides wacky advice. You'll be inspired by Harold as he struggles to find his way through ordinary and not so ordinary perils that confront him day in and day out. This movie has a lot of everything from comedy, to romance, to drama. It's a sure fire winner with any audience. Pick it up today!Read full review...
That's what real life is...
We all have our quirks, and we're all worth loving. While that is not the Grand Message of this movie, its certainly in there.
Now, some might find this film "a little slow" - but that's because they're not really paying attention. And I guarantee, if you pay a little bit to this gem the payback is awesome!
The not-giving-anything-hugely-important-away-premise is: Harold Crick (Ferrell) is a lonely-but-self-respecting IRS auditor who realizes that an articulate English woman's voice is narrating his every move from inside his head. You see, Harold is a bit of an odd duck, too, and he compulsively counts and measures things in the background chatter of his actually creative mind. This is brilliantly illustrated in the movie through sophisticated computer graphics superimposed over the action while Harold moves through space, and for as long as he bothers to mildly preoccupy himself with such trivia - its a refreshing homage to compulsivity like this.
Along the way, he meets a radical baker (Maggie Gyllenhaal at her best) who he "unprofessionally" falls for. But she doesn't want to have anything to do with him...and besides, he's got to get rid of the English woman (Emma Thompson) first!
Superbly directed by Marc Forster (the brilliant director of "Finding Neverland" and the largely unseen masterpiece "Stay") there are some great actors in the smaller roles: Dustin Hoffmann, Queen Latifah (as a dead-serious publisher's "hit-man") and cameos by other greats like Tom "Amadeus" Hulce and Linda Hunt).
If you previously dismissed this as "another dumb Will Ferrell comedy" - you've got a pleasant surprise waiting for you.Read full review...
Stranger than Fiction Movie
Actually I rented this movie with a free movie rental from my local Movie Gallery. While we were trying to decide which movie to see, my eight-year-old "baby" sister, Mariah, almost threw a fit because she did not want to see another "dumb" movie. Because it was my free movie rental, I was the one who got to choose. She ended up enjoying this movie.
Will Ferrell stars as Harold Crick, a mundane IRS agent/mathematician, who "little does he know" that Karen Eiffel, a writer's-block-suffering novelist (played by Emma Thompson) is writing her latest novel about HIM, perplexed about how to kill him. Queen Latifah is a wise-cracking, smart mouth of an author's assistant sent by the publisher to help with the writer's block and novel's plot. Of course, "little do they know" that Harold Crick is an actual person. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a creative baker who Harold Crick is supposed to auditing, but ends up falling in love with him. Dustin Hoffman add a cuteness but seriousness dimension to this flick as Professor Jules Hilbert, a literary genius who is trying to help Harold Crick out of the dilemma of being killed in Eiffel's story (and thus be killed in real life).
I loved how this film taught about the inevitability of death, the simpleness and continuity of life, and choosing to live the type of life you want to live. Will Ferrell delivers an outstanding performance without his irritating, immature, annoying, and often crude humor so typical of most of his roles. (Sorry to all you Will Ferrel fans, but I usually do not like the type of characters he portrays.) Will Ferrel "grew up" in this movie. This movie has a surprize ending that will keep you guessing till the end!
Definitely a fun, different movie!Read full review...
Blown Away
(For a plot synopsis, please click the link above. This review is a critique of the work, not a summary.)
Stranger than Fiction is far and away the best movie I have seen in months, possibly in the last year. I am utterly blown away. I mean, rarely do you find such a wonderful blend of humor, wit, meaning, and quiet humanity all in the same film.
As a comedy, it is wry and ironic. There is little physical comedy, and no toilet humor (not that I dislike either, but sometimes a change of pace is welcome). Though the film is clever, it is understated - a simple premise sets up the action , and from there the characters do all the work. And what wonderful characters they are!
Will Farrell is an amazingly good straightman in this film, something I never would have guessed from watching his oft over the top antics on Saturday Night Live for so many years. He plays a wonderful character with a subtle charm. Maggie Gyllenhaal (whose name I hope I spelled correctly) is wonderful as ever, and plays a character a bit more recognizable as a role you would think to see her in. Emma Thompson puts in, as usual, a very believable performance. And though her character is difficult to like at first, due only to the situation she's unwittingly put herself in, it is hard to be unimpressed with her acting. Queen Latifah, in a very serious role, is also good. So are Dustin Hoffman, and one of my favorite character actors, Tony Hale (Buster from the television series, Arrested Development).
I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. It is one of the few movies I've seen in the last few years that has truly earned its ending. It's not wrapped up in a little bow, and it does not come from nowhere and for no reason. The choices the characters make may surprise you, but it does not feel contrived; knowing the characters, as you do by the end of the film, their decisions make sense, and their motives are clear.
This is one I will watch again and again. I can't guarantee you'll enjoy it as much as I did, but I can hope.Read full review...
Stranger Than Fiction
This is one of Will Ferrell's better movies. It's not what I was expecting from Will, usually his movies are always comedic, but this one has a more serious tone to it.
It starts out with a man named Harold Crick, who is an IRS agent. He seems to be an average boring man, nothing comedic or dramatic happens to him. One day when he begins his normal regime he hears a woman narrating his life to him. He can't get rid of the voice, and doesn't know what's happening. We, the audience, knows the narrator in Harold's mind is a writer working on her latest book. The narrating is very intrusive and distracting for Harold to go about his daily life, and gets even more complicated when the narrator informs Harold about his impending death. Harold decides to go to Professor Jules Hilbert for guidance; Jules has a lot of knowledge about books and helps Harold with his new problem. It takes some convincing, though, for Jules to believe Harold in the first place. During all this confusion Harold finds a love interest in a baker named Ana Pascal.
That's the shortened version, but of course there is a lot more to this film than just that.
The cast is amazingly put together in this movie, they include: Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, and Queen Latifah.
If you are a fan of Will Ferrell then you will definitely enjoy this movie!Read full review...
Will Ferrell at his best...
This film is about an IRS agent named Harold Crick (Will Farrell) living out his life in an ordered fashion day-to-day. What he doesn't know, and we come to find out, is that he's the main character in a novel written by an author (Emma Thompson) who is in a terrible slump and hasn't been able to finish this book in over 10 years. The story takes a turn when Harold begins to hear the authors voice audibly while he's brushing his teeth one day. He hears the voice then go on to say that he's going to die. This causes him to seek out the help of an english professor (Dustin Hoffman) and the 2 attempt to find out various aspects of the story Harold is in, and most importantly who is writing the book.
Regarding the performances: Although I do like some of the work Farrell has done in the past "Kicking and Screaming", "Elf", "Talledega Nights", those movies often pushed the jokes (IMO) too far until they stopped being funny. This movie however, put limits on him and instead of drying him out, it made his comic efforts shine through all the more. Emma Thompson's character as a frustrated writers-blocked author was great as she attempts many things to finish her book, as well as Dustin Hoffman's in overseeing the central character played by Farrell.
This isn't a typical film by Will, but I believe it shows us that he's more than just a slapstick, high school comic. And it will be interesting to see where he goes from here.Read full review...
An Fun and Interesting Course In Writing
I LOVED this movie:)! I LOVE it so much that I went as far to buy several more copies of it and mail it to my friends and family with some orvele redenbacher POP-corn,lol! [please forgive my spelling along the way; I don't do it very well:) ] And now, I have ordered a copy of the screen play. I watch this movie at least once a day since I got it. I can still learn from it.
This movie is all about the actual writer and writing: Parallels; Emma Thomson's character: 'Karen Eifel' and Harold's [played by Will Ferrel] 'wristwatch' And the mental and emotional journey of a WRITER [One may learn the pieces/parts/intricacies of the 'pen'-A writing course that I would enjoy enrolling in and again for refreshers]. In this case, the writer is almost suicidal[but 'life change' is a death of sorts..]; she writes 'tragedies,' where the HERO always dies. The writer is a perfectionist with OCD tendencies. In the story, Karen Eifel tells her assistant, 'Penny Esher,' [played by 'Queen Latefa'] about a "beautifully depressing book," Where a woman, who, after falling to her 'death' had an 'face of an angel; Karen states she believes it's because "she could fell the wind against her face.." as she plunged to her death. Then the narator narates that Harolds' 'watch' 'loved to feel the wind against it's [face'] as Harold ran to catch the bus.
I especially liked the part where ['Penny'-for-your-thoughts 'Esher' [creative construct] 'assisant,' let's-the-character 'IN'[very symbolic] to face her decision of Tragedy [death/suiside];
And then Harold after 'reading' THE MANUSCRIPT; 'Validates' herself [more symbolisim:) ] And it is the 'WATCH'[writer/Karen Eifel] who saves Harold's life; The writer chooses LIFE!
Each character is skillfully portrayed by an amazing cast; each actted as brilliantly as the the mastery and BRILLIENCE of the author/screen play writers', writing!
The romance between, HAROLD and ANA PASQUEL [her charater is the nurturant/creative 'baker'] [Played by Gylinhal,sp!lol..] is lovely and healing.
The words; music; cinematograpy all fit/match somewhere; nothing is wasted. I am truely INSPIRED! I cry/laugh at this brilliant comedy-tragedy-romance-teacher:)
I was driving one afternoon crying; wondering if I had done anything of signifigance in my life; my self-talk went down a list of the 'little' things I had done for other people, a lot of them, but I could not say that I had been 'Mother Teresa!' And then I found this Movie: 'STRANGER THAN FICTION' BY, ZACH HELM.
This movie [it's writer's] suggest that: 'OKAY' is good enough [we don't have to be Gandy]; that we affect others in our small gestures [these can be life savors]; doesn't have to be 'grand.'
And 'we'/our lives; Are and are not controlled by fate [GOD] 'we' have free choice, and can 'write' with our self-talk a new way of being....GACHETTDUO
As a child I had a favorite book, entittled: HAROLD and THE PURPLE CRAYON. And now as an adult [with my inner child..:) ] I now have: HAROLD and HIS WRISTWATCH, a.k.a, STRANGER THAN FICTION!
'LISTEN' to every word...the artist/writer puts each word in 'it's place' and for a purpose!
If you would like to have further discussion you may email me at: gachettduo@charter.net ...peace out!:)Read full review...
Will Ferrel's best serious movie role, a must-see/own for Ferrel fans !
One of Will Ferrel's best 'serious' roles, and a highly overlooked film. This movie has a lot of heart, though the humor at times may be black/dark. Will Ferrel really flexes his acting muscle here and I would love to see him in more roles like this. This isn't a film for those who simply want to turn off their brain and laugh. No, this has substance and actually makes the viewer think (particularly about purpose and existence). A magnificent movie, heartfelt and tearjerking with a happy ending. A must see and own for Ferrel fans !Read full review...
A true jewel in my viewing experience!!!
WOW! What a movie. Ferrell was great. This movie was something amazing! My wife and I discussed at length so many of the issues related to the meaning of life, and things that matter to us and our kids... We are buying this movie.
Without trying to give away the ending, what a statement about heroism, about meaning, and how art duplicates life. Dustin Hoffman was also VERY good in this movie, though not listed in some credits as highly as actors that carried less of the load.
This one is amazing, because when you wear your iPod, and hear the music you love as you live, you often imagine your life differently initially. This movie helps define the values of a life worth living in an Orwellian world. Such an entertaining pretense in a popular movie. Amazing.
Great work all, who completed this project. The truth really sneaks up on you in this movie!!Read full review...