Sunday, June 17, 2007

Movie Review - Stranger Than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction is the story of Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) an IRS auditor. His life is ordered (to him) and boring (to us). Everything changes when one day he becomes aware that an anonymous person is narrating his life - a narration that he, and no one else, can hear. It doesn't bother him too much other than thinking he's crazy until, one day, the voice says that Harold is going to die. Trying to stop his imminent death, he seeks the help of a literature professor (Dustin Hoffman - best academic office I've ever seen!) in order to identify the voice. Meanwhile, the author, Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), is stuck with writer's block and an assistant from the publishing house, Penny Escher (Queen Latifah) has been sent to help her. And so in the course of trying to find Karen before she finishes the book and kills him, Harold begins to live his life fully.

It was a bit difficult to figure out what this movie was trying to be. In some parts, it was pretty damn funny, in other aspects, particularly the message, it was quite serious. Everyone plays their roles completely straight - even Will Ferrell, when he does his crazy yelling mode is completely understandable as being representative of Harold's psychological trauma at finding out he's going to die! But by playing it straight, they too seem absolutely hilarious. This doubleplay is seen everywhere as the plot and script waver between complete absurdity and being deeply serious. I suppose the best description would be that this movie is analogous to Adaptation or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but a little less of a mind-$@#% than those movies.

But the wavering that the movie makes means that I'm not sure whether this is a great work of absurdist movie making or a great dissertation on the meaning of life - how an ordinary person in an ordinary life can in oneself be extraordinary. The things I like: As an existentialist reading of life, it's amusing. As a criticism of modern literature (where the protagonist has to die to make a masterpiece) I think it's spot on! The things I didn't like: I didn't think there's much between Maggie Gyllenhaal and Will Ferrell. He's funny and she's the alternative world to him, I guess, but it didn't feel like something natural. Also, the carpe diem message can be a bit heavy at times.

In the end, I think it's a good movie. Not brilliant, not terrible, just good.
6.5-7/10

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