Hideously Out of Date Reviews: Stranger Than Fiction

If you've ever felt detached and lonely, or if you've ever counted writing fiction among your hobbies (or vocation), then you'd probably like Stranger Than Fiction.

I can't tell you how many times we've tried to engineer a trip out without the baby to see this movie, but we finally got the job done on Saturday, in the early evening. I've known I wanted to see it since I saw the first commercials for it.

Dr. Heimlich had the best analysis of Will Farrell in this movie. He was definitely "clothed" in this movie, and not mired in Naked Will Ferrell Syndrome. I thought he was great and very likable.

Dustin Hoffman was good, as was Queen Latifah. But really, Emma Thompson did an amazing job. She did a lot of voice over narration, which is much harder than many people think. For one thing, VO annoys a lot of people, so you have that to contend with. Then, you have a lot to get across without being able to use facial expressions or body language. I think she did such a good job with it that even people who don't like VO would probably rate this movie's use of it as an exception to the rule.

But more importantly, she does what a lot of actresses, especially actresses who are no longer in their 20's, would be reluctant to do. Playing the reclusive, quirky, twitchy author, she had the stringy hair, the goofy clothes, the (apparent) lack of makeup. She embraced who this woman would be exactly this way if she really existed and just sort of fearlessly brought her to life. She had to bring comedic moments in with a lot more dramatic stuff, and I'm hard pressed to think of someone else who could have brought it off so well. It really was absolutely fearless.

If people are balking at the ending (which I won't reveal, obviously, in case any of you were waiting for video for this one) then I'm not sure how they would have thought the more "obvious" ending would have been more satisfying. Emma Thompson's character explains it better than I could, but I wouldn't have been as uplifted by the movie had it ended with things working out the way that seemed inevitable for most of the third act.

I would especially recommend this movie, like I said above, if you do enjoy or have enjoyed in the past, writing fiction. I've written things with characters that seemed so real to me at the time that I wouldn't have been shocked if one of the characters strolled up to my doorbell and rang it, probably to complain roundly to me of their treatment in my hands. From that perspective, this movie is particularly interesting. But the performances really make it something a cut above.