Stranger Than Fiction
by Marc Forster
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Queen Latifah, Will FerrellDirector: Marc Forster
Brand: Sony
Producer: Aubrey Henderson
Producer: Eric Kopeloff
Producer: Jim Miller
Producer: Joseph Drake
Producer: Lindsay Doran
Producer: Nathan Kahane
Writer: Zach Helm
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 113 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-27
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of Stranger Than Fiction
Movie Review: The death of the author (and maybe the reader, too)
Summary: 2 Stars
Less a story or cinematic experience, "Stranger Than Fiction" is scarcely more than a flimsy premise for a weak romantic comedy, ultimately distinguished by a didactic voice-over that seems to go on moralizing forever at the film's end. As a romantic comedy, the film succeeds to the degree the viewer finds Harold Crick's life story as interesting as Will Farrell's persona. To reviewers not particularly drawn to Farrell's understated role, his conflict between a life controlled by a digital wrist watch vs. one proceeding from his own free and autonomous will is what the film comes down to. Of course, as a parable it attempts to make some "deeper" statement about the tragic narratives we regrettably mistake for the banality of actual living which, though no more profound than a bad rock & roll lyric, is something we can be grateful for: after all, it's "real life." Deal with it, and forget about living the fictionalized existence of some protagonist in a heightened, tragic drama. (It's at this point that the screenplay tries--far too hard and to an embarrassing degree--to excuse itself from looking "anti-cultural.")
For some viewers, Harold's salvation from his automated routine will be sufficient pay-off to make his mundane existence (now spiced up by his slightly wild and tattooed but sweet, newfound love) seem exceedingly preferable to the extermination of the artist and her pretentious fictional "masterpieces." But certainly there is nothing in the film more believable and disturbing than the self-destructive, neurotic-verging-on-psychotic Emma Thompson (she's Peter O'Toole more hung over than usual!) as the "great author"--until she shows up at the end of the film cleaned-up, repentant, well-groomed and gentle spoken--saved, presumably, from her own creative vices.
The moral of the story? Simply this: "you're lucky to be alive." And that's more than you could say for Lear, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Butterfly, all of whom are killed off by their creators. As far as movies go, this one is to literature what "Patch Adams" was to medicine. Stop being a hi-brow or a fuddy-duddy. Wake up to the sound of kids laughing at the sight of doctors wearing red balls on their noses, and relish every lovingly baked crumb of a fresh cookie. (Just don't complain when lipid panels come back showing dangerously high levels of cholesterol.)
Summary of Stranger Than Fiction
An irs auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life from his work to his love-interest to his death. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 07/22/2008 Starring: Will Ferrell Maggie Gyllenhaal Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Pg13Much 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
 "Counting Brush Strokes," A featurette on the filming of Stranger Than Fictionhigh bandwidth |  Tax Man!: A clip from the film high bandwidth |  Queen Latifah on working with Emma Thompson high bandwidth |
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Beyond Stranger Than Fiction on Amazon.com
 Comic Actors Go Dramatic |  CD Soundtrack |  Emma Thompson Essentials |
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