Stranger Than Fiction: A Review

Flours.  I brought you flours.

The movie is a few years old, but I forgot how awesome it was so I put it in my DVD player on Saturday night.  It is still awesome.

It's the story of Harold Crick.  And even more than that, it's the story of the story of Harold Crick.  It's also the story of Karen Eiffel, the woman who is trying to write Harold's story, as it's happening, because she's making it up.  And his watch.  The story is also about his watch, and at first, that may seem hokey.  But once you get it, you go "Oh, his watch.  That's why."  Or, you don't really get it, but it's fine, because it still ends up being really great.

It's actually difficult to review this movie because I just want to think about it and then gush.

This movie is superbly cast.  It seems as though it won some sort of casting lottery where awesome actors ran at it in Velcro suits and the best ones stuck.   It's a great Will Ferrell vehicle, and it's also one of my favorite Maggie Gyllenhaal movies.  And I love Queen Latifah, and Emma Thompson.  And Dustin Hoffman.  And even the bit role by Tony Hale is great. It also has a great soundtrack, largely showcasing Spoon, along with other alt greats such as Whole Wide World.  

Thinking about it while writing this makes me want to watch it again.  

Something just now struck me- she still writes on a typewriter.  It's never seemed odd to me, but I suppose it should.  Except everything is just so well done, that there's really no reason to question it.  It works better.  And I hate that I even doubted it for that nanosecond the thought crept in my brain.

I wanted to add a video clip to add a little more beef to this post.  I don't want to give things away, so I decided to put the trailer here.  It's a pretty good trailer too.



Little did he know...four of the greatest words in fiction. But this isn't fiction. This is Stranger Than Fiction.  Yes, that was horrible.  I apologize.  But seriously, next time you need a good mind blanket, a soft covering all over your brain that makes it feel good, put on this movie.