Stranger Than Fiction

[Alloroc]

I watched this wonderful movie on DVD last night with my wife and it was one of the most enjoyable movies we've seen in a long time.

It's a slightly unusual yet original movie, almost Charlie Kaufman like, given that the hero - Harold Crick - played by Will Ferrell begins to hear a voice narrating certain aspects of his life - how he brushes his teets and how he counts the steps when walking to the bus. The narrator, played by Emma Thompson, is writing a book about a man who is about to die. When Ferrell hears that his death is looming his life turns upside down.

The cast is spectacular and also includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hofman and Queen Latifah. Ferrell stands out though for me as it is a straight roll and he carries it perfectly.

The movie is pensive and thoughtful, easy to watch but not overly earnest.

I'll give it a strong :45: .

[june]

Alloroc,

Everyone has their own opinoins about films. But this did nothing for me. I'll give it a "negative 2 stars."

[Chris D]

You can do that? Can I change my rating of "Ishtar"?

[Gremal]

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with june. Lightweight, overly self-conscious acting, lightweight, overly self-conscious story. Then again, feelgood comedies are not my bag. I liked Dustin Hoffman, but that was it. Too bad he has to live out the remainder of his fantastic career in bizarre comedies like this one and Meet the Faukers.

[Alloroc]

Hmmm. The glory of opinions! Well for me this was a nice, gentle and innocent movie with none of the pretensiousness that one seems to expect these days. But then this is the kind of movie that I like - clever, a little quirky and most importantly it was a movie that I could get my wife to watch. She will not watch anything with violence so that shortens my viewing pleasures significantly. (We watched The Queen tonight!)

[greenhorn]

I enjoyed it for the most part. The narration at the beginning was about to be too much, but then it eased off. I consider a good "popcorn" movie. Not one of those movies you'll get someting out of, but an ok way to spend a couple hours with some popcorn.

Samurai Dog's Opinion … Rent = Yes

Samurai Dog's Opinion … Purchase = No

[Gremal]

SPOILER, don't read if you haven't seen movie

She will not watch anything with violence so that shortens my viewing pleasures significantly.

That pretty much eliminates everything in my collection, and helps explain why I'm still single.

Yes, I can see the merits of this DVD as a "chick flick". But even the violence SPOILER COMING when homey gets hits by the bus didn't save this for me. :Z

[Alloroc]

That pretty much eliminates everything in my collection, and helps explain why I'm still single.

Also helps explain why you did not like this movie!

[Chris D]

Gremal, I added spoiler tags to that part of the post to help you out.