November 13, 2006
Movie Review— Stranger Than Fiction
(note: No spoilers below. All plot information provided is available in the trailer.)
I’ve never been a big moviegoer. I would say I tend to see about two movies in a theatre per year. And often, I find myself getting stuck with things I wouldn’t want to see, just because I’m with a group. Well, over the weekend the wife and I went out to see “Stranger than Fiction”, and I was very, very pleasantly surprised.
Stranger than Fiction is the story of Harold Crick (played by Will Ferrell), an IRS agent who one day starts hearing his life narrated by a British woman’s voice. Quite confused, and a little frightened, he is tormented by this voice for several days, until the voice warns him of his impending death. From that point on, of course, his life is thrown into question as he learns that the voice is that of an author, and he, Harold Crick, is a character in her book.
Normally, considering it’s a movie with Will Ferrell, you’d expect hilarity to ensue. In fact, I think most of the reason my wife suggested we see the movie was because she was expecting a funny movie. It’s not. I would put the humor level more along the lines of Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show”, a movie which had some funny parts, but which was a bit of a diversion from earlier slapstick work. In addition, it’s not an action movie. There is serious work in character development, and there is more to be found in dialogue than in action. However, what the movie lacks in humor and action, it more than makes up for elsewhere.
I’m a big fan of well-written stories. One of the things I’ve learned from spending so much time writing, is just how hard it is to make something really work and pop. This movie left me in awe. It was poignant and witty. It left me thinking that it was a coherent, well-put together story, even more so considering the fantastic subject matter. While in the middle of the story, as it was moving along slowly, my wife had started to get bored with the movie, and I was waiting for the development to actually develop into something. But by the end of the movie, we both agreed that it wouldn’t have been such a good movie without the slow-paced development.
I loved this movie for all the reasons I hated “War of the Worlds”. It wasn’t a badly-acted rehash of a 100-year old story with plot holes, made purely to give special-effects nuts a half-chub. It was a great story, was acted beautifully, and the direction and screenplay worked. This movie will soon be getting Oscar buzz, and with good reason. If you get a chance, I highly recommend it. As I said, I’m not a big moviegoer, but it’s probably the best new movie I’ve seen in years.
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