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  • Film & TV Moderators: ghostfreak

Film: Stranger Than Fiction

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Benefit

Benefit

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 11, 2002
Messages
5,193
Location
Los Angeles
Not a remarkable film, but I would call it solid.

The basic premise, as I'm sure you all know, is that a guy one day hears a disembodied woman's voice narrating the daily events in his life; it turns out an author with writer's block is trying to finish her story and somehow her narrative has taken over control of his life and consequently his destiny. If I wanted to be a total pompous academic dork I would launch into a lengthy discussion about how this film integrates the notion of personal freedom into a predetermined fictional framework and all the abstract implications this carries with regards to free will and other philosophical gibberish. But I think that would be stupid.

Acting
It necessarily features a fairly under-stated Will Farrell; the humor is... I guess you could say subtle. Certainly he's not banging on any cowbells or yelling "Shake'n'Bake!" Emma Thompson's performance as a neurotic author grates a little; Queen Latifah is bland and boring; Maggie Gyllenhaal manages to be both seductive and a little off-putting in her role; Dustin Hoffman is pretty darn good but not stellar. Overall, the acting was mediocre; definitely not bad but nothing that would occasion comment.

I like to see how different creative minds tackle metafictional frameworks, and writer Zach Helm does a good job of crafting a non-traditional story that bends narrative convention in a refreshing way. He's no Charlie Kaufman, but maybe Kaufman is overrated anyway. The climax really should have trended toward a darker conclusion, but overall the concept works. Calculation-themed graphics are woven into many of the shots, and the production value is high with good solid camerawork and editing.

The music fits very, very well with the flow of the story (Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric is used to great affect).

I recommend this film.
 
I watched the movie yesterday with a buddy of mine.
We were both mildly tripping on acid, and both found the movie very funny.
I almost fell in love with that cute lady. I found her adorable.
 
i enjoyed this move, it was definetly better than i had expected.
haha i thought dustin hoffman's character was great, and it worked well with the very subtle humor throughout the movie. and i also liked the calculations and lines and things in the shots, it was well put.
 
yeah i enjoyed it aswell. but i mean.. will ferrel? come on, that guy belongs in movies like old school and shit. of course he did really well, but it was just such a drastic change from what im used to.. same thing with jim carrey and "the number 23"
 
film: stranger than fiction

i saw this on a whim today and i enjoyed it much more than i thought i would. i am really not much of a will ferral fan (i feel asleep during elf more than once) but i liked the lower key humor he had in this film. everything was subtle about the movie from the acting to the humor to the overall feeling and flow.
i agree that i would have loved it to have gone for the darker conclusion, also.... but thompson's conclusion about why the ending was lighter is a good one. queen latifah was completely forgettable and could have been filled by any walk on or stand in. pretty much everyone gave a performance, but that was about it. they showed up, they knew their lines, they said them well and then everyone went home.

what really won me over was when he brought her flours. having an obsession with cooking this little segment was too cute. it was just a brilliant gesture that completely encapsulates the feeling of falling in love. the inspiration, the urgency, the directness your heart wants you to throw out into the open.
 
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this movie was ok, but wasn't anything like i was expecting. being a will ferrell movie, i thought i would get an annoying comedy. instead, i got a drama with some sort of a message. the idea was pretty neat though.
 
I'm just glad Ferrell finally played a good roll in a movie.

I'd give this movie 5 stars.
It would be 4, but Queen Latifa is in it!

That usually saves movies automatically. Regardless of how bad they are.
lol
 
Chicago66 said:
I'm just glad Ferrell finally played a good roll in a movie.

I'd give this movie 5 stars.
It would be 4, but Queen Latifa is in it!

That usually saves movies automatically. Regardless of how bad they are.
lol
Click to expand...

I think my frontal lobe just exploded. That's how mind boggling that comment is.

Back to the topic, I'm with Benefit almost 100%. It was a very understated movie on all counts.

Will Ferrel actually did a very good job as the nebbish guy, but I don't think it was a role that required a whole lot of stretching. Maggie Gyllenhal is indeed adorable, but her character got on my nerves pretty damn quick. She is like the new Meg Ryan. Cute and perky, but kind of obnoxious. Good thing she does a lot of nude scenes or I would loose all interest in her career. Dustin Hoffman was certainly enjoyable, but that kind of character is so familiar to him that he could have just phoned in his performance. I thought the stand out of the film was Emma Thompson. She plays crazy like a pro.

All in all, not a bad movie. Not a great movie either. It's a movie that somehow just is.
 
LinZ-E said:
The Palahniuk book was much better (though completely unrelated).
Click to expand...

I would HOPE that the book was better than the movie... seeing as how one has nothing to do with the other... at all.

Why in the hell would you even make such a comparison?:\

"You know, I liked the movie Strange Days, but the album Strange Days by The Doors was SO much better."8)
 
ego_loss said:
I would HOPE that the book was better than the movie... seeing as how one has nothing to do with the other... at all.

Why in the hell would you even make such a comparison?:\

"You know, I liked the movie Strange Days, but the album Strange Days by The Doors was SO much better."8)
Click to expand...

Funny thing is that I did, prior to seeing the trailer, believe they were associated.

same title is all.
get the bug out of your ass.
 
There is no bug up my ass. It just makes no sense to make a comment like that. The book and the movie have nothing to do with one another, the movie is not supposed to be an adaptation of the book, no one ever said they had anything in common aside from the name... so how can one really be better than the other?

I read Irvine Welsh's book "Glue". I was very sad that it didn't have anything to do with the adhesive industry.
 
I agree with Benefit - solid movie, not remarkable. Superb cast that keeps you actually wanting to watch it (I <3 Emma Thompson). Good movie to just sit down, watch, enjoy, and that be it.
 
for the first time ever, i actually liked will farrell. i enjoyed the movie, and am glad it didn't try to delve too deeply into its philosophical ideas.

"Well, you'r a baker, so I brought you some 'flours'" fkn loved that one =D
 
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