“I believe in life after birth”. Not a quote from the movie, but could be.

Entirely not what I was expecting, being less funny and a lot deeper. There were a lot of humorous, but not really laugh-out-loud moments, but this turned into quite a sweet, thought-provoking film about living your life.

Oh, and Emma Thomson wore no make up through the entire film! Sure, she looks washed out and tired (purposefully, I imagine) – but how brave for an actress to do that!

I really liked this movie, and was surprised at how good of a serious actor Will Farrell can be. I was a little dissatisfied with the ending, but I can’t really put my finger on why. I would still highly recommend this movie!

Saving the world through cookies.

I went expecting an over the top comedy, but I couldn’t resist the premise. It was funny, but it was also gentle and thought provoking. I loved it so much more then I thought I would.

If you’re literarily inclined, you must go see this film.

I’m a creative writing major and I couldn’t stop laughing at the neurotic writer, Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson). She chain smokes, she’s got writer’s block, and she spends a healthy majority of her screen time fantasizing about ways of killing off her main character. It’s me in ten years, I swear.

Dustin Hoffman also plays a hilarious professor of literary theory. When he and Will Ferrell have just about given up on finding out who Will Ferrell’s narrator is, Hoffman encourages him to do whatever he wants with the rest of his life, to enjoy as much as he can before his inevitable death:

”Hell, Harold, you could just eat nothing but pancakes if you wanted.”

”What is wrong with you? Hey, I don’t want to eat nothing but pancakes, I want to live! I mean, who in their right mind in a choice between pancakes and living chooses pancakes?”

”Harold, if you pause to think, you’d realize that that answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led… and, of course, the quality of the pancakes.”

Classic stuff.

I was pleasantly surprised by Stranger Than Fiction as it took a more dramatic and sentimental tone than a comedic one and it worked very well. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a film filled with loving details in the characters, writing and performances. Will Ferrell is understated as a man who is a character in a novel being written by Emma Thompson. With a relatively simple story that often makes difficult choices, it was also fun. One unexpected highlight was Dustin Hoffman’s great supporting performance as a literature professor. Hoffman steals the scenes with strange actions and a rich character. Structurally the film works well as narrative traditions are played with in a self-conscious way. While I would have been happy with a light and slightly intellectual comedy it was very nice to have something that was a bit deeper and more meaningful than I was expecting which was a very good thing.

This movie was awesome, offbeat and funny, i never expected Will Ferrell to ever play such a deadpan character! Definitely a comedy but it has important underlying themes that are addressed, too, and i particularly appreciate Emma Thompson’s performance and what she says at the end about making a choice and sticking with it even when you know the outcome is bad for yourself. Definitely worth consuming!

I just finished this film and I am floored.. The last movie I have seen this touching was Danny Deckchair.

We start off with the most simple story on earth – a very boring north american office worker, and to make matters worse – a tax man, and details about his watch – watch, who cares? It’s like the writer challenged himself and proved that he could twist any boring story into an interesting one by following the laws of most fiction books. We get told what happens in stories – we have a sort of analysis and break down of what a fictional story needs. We see a character responding to these needs, and things just happen to fall into place right. The female lead is the complete opposite of him, yet unforcefully, the two do fall in love. Cutting to the chase, the main character does meet the writer, and the story is fast forwarded to deal with an appropriate ending. A very complete story, as simple as it started out, and something in the end hits you that binds the whole story together. Just perfect!

What an excellent, clever movie! The premise is great: a man, going about his daily life, starts hearing a narrator who describes his every move. It turns out that she is an author, and she is writing the story of his life. She’s under pressure from her publisher to finish the book, so she’s trying to work out a way to kill off her main character. He’s starting to get hints of where the book/his life is going, and tries to stop it so he can avoid his own death. Go see it. You’ll see what I mean.

(And for you nanovelists out there, how much more well timed could it be, coming out in November? Can you imagine coming face-to-face with your own main character?)

I LOVED THIS MOVIE!

I plan to see it many more times in the theatre and when it comes out on DVD! YAY!

For anyone that likes Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this is the movie for you!

Loved the movie, it’s very meta-fictive. I’ll admit there were times that I felt like I was in class, but that made me feel kind of cool and intelligent. And I can only hope, that when I finish my PhD and I’m an English professor, I’ll have an office as nice as Dustin Hoffman’s (but with much better books).