Stranger Than Fiction

Average customer rating: 4.0

So Clever!
Disappointment
If you really like Will Ferrell don't watch this!
Beautiful!
Despite the comedic cast, this movie is a boring drama.

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Stranger Than Fiction
Starring: Will Ferrell , William Dick , Guy Massey (III) , Martha Espinoza , and T.J. Jagodowski
Director: Marc Forster
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Product Group: DVD
Binding: DVD
ASIN: B000LXH0AE
2007-02-27

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Amazon.com

Much was written about Will Ferrell's first "dramatic role" as Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who begins hearing a voice narrating his life. But Stranger Than Fiction is hardly a drama. However, what Ferrell does--like Jim Carrey before him in The Truman Show--is handle a toned-down character with genuineness and affection: you believe he is this guy. Crick leads a lonely life filled with numbers and routines. While at first he considers the voice a nuisance, Crick decides more action is needed when it speaks of "his demise." Enter Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who takes on the absurd notion with revelry, trying to find out what kind of book Crick's life is leading. It turns out that the voice Crick is hearing belongs to Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson), a very real--and troubled--author who is writing a book in which Crick is a fictional character. As usual with these things, the stuffed shirt learns to live a better life--Crick even falls for one of his audits, a brash baker named Ana (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Marc Foster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) has the right tone for the film, using great urban scenes (the unnamed city is Chicago) with interesting visualizations of Crick's world of numbers. He also directs Ferrell, Hoffman, and Gyllenhaal to their most charming performances (plus Linda Hunt and Tom Hulce pop up in two funny scenes). Ferrell succeeds in being a romantic lead you can root for; a scene where he eats Ana's freshly baked cookies is totally delightful without a hint of sarcasm. Screenwriter Zach Helm has two personal traits with his story: like Crick he followed his heart (he stopped rewriting scripts and only worked on his own) and like Eiffel, the final results are not a masterpiece, but good, and entertaining enough. Britt Daniel of the band Spoon worked on the dynamite soundtrack.--Doug Thomas

Extras from Stranger Than Fiction <table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="100%" cellspacing="4">

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"Counting Brush Strokes," A featurette 
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Tax Man!:

A clip from the film
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 Queen Latifah on working with Emma Thompson
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Beyond Stranger Than Fiction on Amazon.com <table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="100%" cellspacing="4">

<td><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000G02H.01.TZZZZZZZ.jpg" border="0">
Comic Actors Go Dramatic </td>

<td><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000IONLB8.01.TZZZZZZZ.jpg" border="0">
CD Soundtrack</td>

<td><img src="http://g-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/dvd/sony/stf/Emmat._V44072813_.jpg" border="0">
Emma Thompson Essentials </td> </tr>

</table>

Customer Reviews:

So Clever!.......2007-06-10

I think this movie is brilliant. There are endearing characters and the "in the Head" commentary is perfect for a fiction lover. I saw it at the theater and loved it so much I watch it on DVD as often as I can.

Disappointment.......2007-06-10

BIG DISAPPOINTMENT - considering the film stars Wil Ferrel and Dustin Hoffman. The plot revolves around a single IRS man who one days starts hearing a voice and realises she is an author who is writing a book which is actually his life, in all this he also falls for a chick he is doing a tax audit, but once he realises that the author is going to kill him off he goes about to try and stop it - no prizes for how it ends - the laughs are few and far between.

If you really like Will Ferrell don't watch this!.......2007-06-08

Will Ferrell has been to my taste one of the most talented comedians ever to appear on SNL, and I had looked forward to him acting in movies. I'm still SURE he can act and can be funny as heck, but almost all the roles he's been taking so far don't do justice to his talents, perhaps with arguable exception of "Elf" and "Anchorman."

Will, you can do MUCH better than that.

"Stranger Than Fiction" is a waste of Will Ferrell's talent and waste of your (and mine) time. The "funniness" of this "comedy" would suffice for about 10 minutes of gags total, and when the same two or three "funny" ideas are dragged for 113 minutes it becomes a torture. Not recommended.

Beautiful!.......2007-06-07

This is a fantastic film. My top tip is: Don't watch this thinking you're about to see a comedy. It suffered at the box office because they tried to market it as a hilarious Will Ferrell comedy, and it really isn't. That did injustice to his performance and to the film in general. It was such a realistic, human and awkward performance from Will that I really felt for him throughout. By the end I was sobbing like a maniac! The casting is superb and the plot is genuinely gripping. The overall message of the film is just beautiful. Definitely my favourite film so far.

Despite the comedic cast, this movie is a boring drama........2007-06-05

Stranger than Fiction is not a comedy, it is a drama. You wouldn't know that however, after seeing the preview. The preview shows all the funny parts, and when seeing Will Ferrell, you expect more of the same in this movie. If you are going to buy this, you must know what you are getting. This is a drama, a drama maybe meant to have a message, to be poignant or to have a greater meeting. Or as I believe, a drama that is pointless and irrelevant.

Expect to be amused at certain parts, but never to really laugh. Many will watch this movie thinking it is a comedy, and who is to blame them. Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman all have been stars in comedies, and Will Ferrell is one of the funniest actors around.

Every performance in understated, every scene is meloncholy and borders on sad. Queen Latifah is wasted as the assistant to Emma Thompson, the famous author with writer's block. Harold Crick is a character in her novel, nothing more. There is no point, no connection to the viewer to make us care about him. Dustin Hoffman does shine ins his role as the professor trying to help Crick figure out whether is life is a comedy or tragedy. The movie shows the most promise when Crick goes to do an IRS audit of Maggie Gyllenhaal's Ana, and everyone at Ana's bakery turns on the hated "tax man." Crick and Ana's relationship shows the most promise in the movie, but in the end, it is discarded as just another plot in the narrated story.

In the first few minutes, the gimick of Harold Crick hearing the narration of his life is revealed. Harold can hear a voice in his head. Sounds funny, but since this movie isn't funny, what's the catch? That's the problem with this movie. It exists in a world that doesn't matter. There's no twist at the end to make us care, there's no relevation to explain why Harold can hear a voice in his head. There's basically no reason for this movie.

In the end, this might qualify as a rental, but you shouldn't buy this movie without knowing what you are getting yourself into. I have a feeling that most of the people that saw this movie in theaters left dissappointed.

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