Stranger Than Fiction

They Might Be Critics is trying out a new format for certain reviews: Rather than posting several separate reviews for the same movie, we're having certain critics discuss a movie, then posting the resulting discussion for your reading pleasure. In this review, Dr. Worm and Stormy Pinkness discuss Stranger Than Fiction, in a later review, Wicked Little Critta and Your Racist Friend will be discussing Casino Royale. Be sure to let us know if you like this format and you want to see more of it in the future, or if you think it sucks and hope we never do it again.

Stranger Than Fiction centers around the life Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), an auditor for the IRS. Crick has a perfectly monotonous life full of numbers and routine, until two things happen to him, almost simultaneously. First, he starts hearing the events of his life being narrated to him by a British, female voice (Emma Thompson), as he says, "accurately ... and with a better vocabulary." Second, on a routine auditing trip, he meets a beautiful baker named Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal) with whom he can't help but fall in love. When the narratorial voice in his head predicts his imminent demise, Harold seeks the counsel of a literary professor named Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) to divine—and hopefully avoid—what this narrator has in mind.

Dr. Worm: Overall, I liked this movie. It was campy at moments and unbelievable at others, but it was fun and frolicky overall and contained a good message—even if just a tad sanctimonious. I feel like when I go to really analyze the movie, there are plenty of things I could point out as flaws (and we'll get to these), but movie was breezy enough to keep me going along with it without feeling the need to nitpick those things. So, Stormy Pinkness, what's your overall take?

Stormy Pinkness: Well, I thought the movie was boring at first. I guess I must just be so used to all these special effects that when a movie is not rife with them I get bored.

DW: Well, is that really it though? I mean, were you bored at the beginning of Marie Antoinette?

SP: No, but that was history. (Editor's note: Stormy Pinkness is a notorious history geek.)

DW: True.

SP: But overall I thought the movie was all right. Very much an improvement from the last Will Ferrell movie I saw.

DW: Which was?

SP: I think Kicking and Screaming.

DW: Yeah, that movie was pretty much crap.

SP: It was, but Stranger Than Fiction was somewhat enjoyable. It had some funny moments, and it had a good theme as well, I think.

DW: What would you say was the theme of the movie?

SP: That you never stop to think of the way you live life until something threatens your routine.

DW: I like that. I think that's kind of true.
DW: I think the movie added a different sort of moral at the end, but we'll get to that later.
DW: How do you think Will Ferrell held up in his role?

SP: I think he held up very well. I thought he just knew how to do comedy, but I was wrong. Even his comedic parts as a serious actor were done well.

DW: Yeah, I'd make the argument that his comedic bits are only funny because we take him seriously enough. Even though he starts out the movie as more of a caricature than an actual person

SP: I would buy that.
SP: What did you think of Emma Thompson?

DW: I thought she did a solid job, though she too was more of a "type" than an actual person.
DW: In fact, I think I could levy that complaint against all the characters.

SP: Yeah, I think that Emma Thompson did well, but her character definitely seemed to be an amalgamation of different writer's block scenarios

DW: It's true, and she had a bit of the "crazy artist" archetype about her.

SP: Yeah, and I did not really think Queen Latifah's part was necessary.

DW: I totally agree. (Editor's note: Queen Latifah played a specialist sent by Emma Thompson's publisher to see to it that Emma got the book done. ) It seemed that she was only there so the scenes with Emma Thompson wouldn't just be Emma talking to herself.

SP: Exactly!
SP: I am somewhat above apathetic for Dustin Hoffman's character

DW: I hear that. He, like the others, was a little more than a type. In his case, something like the absent-minded professor. Someone with a ton of—pardon the pun—book knowledge, but not much ability to deal with people.

SP: Yeah, he seemed like a necessary plot device.
SP: Kind of like a plot hook.

DW: He was. I guess one of the dangers of making your story about writing a story is that the audience sees why you're putting these characters in your story. That they're often there to serve a purpose rather than to be a person.

SP: I can see that.

DW: I think Maggie Gyllenhaal was the most egregious example. She did a good job with a role that she's just way above: the yang to Will Ferrell's yin, as well as his obligatory love interest.
DW: I really didn't buy their love story.

SP: Me either. It was sweet, but it didn't seem real.

DW: No, I could imagine him falling for her, but it made little sense to see her falling for him.

SP: But I think someone as cautious as he was would spend more time with a person before falling in love. I can see showing him interest, but they go right from that to the whole dreamy-eyed "I love you" phase.

DW: It's true. That whole subplot felt very ad hoc and unnecessary.
DW: The weird thing is, we're sitting here ripping this movie to shreds, but I liked the movie. I liked it quite a bit, actually.

SP: I don't think we are ripping this movie to shreds.

DW: No, we're not. But our comments have been negative.

SP: We've done a lot worse to movies.

DW: I guess I'm saying: I liked this movie. So I should try to point out why.

SP: Ok, so let's balance it out
SP: I think the theme of the movie was good and resonant with the current time period.
SP: I think it had a very interesting premise, which I actually supported during the movie.
SP: The acting was in no way bad, but some of the roles seemed a bit unnecessary.

DW: I agree, and I'll go further: Some of the roles were actually pretty poor, but the actors and actresses involved rescued them from mediocrity.
DW: And I like what you said about being resonant with our time. With the prevalence of reality TV and cameras literally everywhere, it's easy to imagine your own life as a show. Will Ferrell's life was a novel, not a show, but the same feeling holds true.
DW: But I think the smartest point this movie made was the question it asked about the value of art vs. the value of life.

SP: How so?

DW: It essentially asks the question: Is it right to kill a person in order to create an excellent, lasting work of art? With one argument saying: No, of course not, it's wrong to kill a person. And the other saying: But the person will die anyway, sooner or later, but the art may last forever—and, by so doing, immortalize the person.

SP: But also, as is the case in the movie, the author, or artist, if you will, did not know that the character she thought she created as a fictional person was in fact real.

DW: Absolutely, but when she finds out he is, she's essentially faced with that question. Does she kill him to create excellent art, or does she spare him and create either no art or poor art?

SP: I think this kind of brings to light the concept of characters having their own lives.

DW: Go on.

SP: I have just heard interviews where authors are talking about the characters in their works and they say they had and idea about what they originally wanted their characters to do, but their characters take on a life of their own. In the case of this movie, literally.

DW: It's true, and I think that's the sign of when your characters have become 3-dimensional and "real." Ironically, most of the characters in this movie are actually rather flat.

SP: True.

DW: All right, are we ready to make a final pronouncement on the movie?

SP: Guilty!
SP: Oh wait, wrong pronouncement.
SP: I thought it was good. Much better than I anticipated a Will Ferrell movie being. Some of the secondary characters had some problems, through no fault of the actors, but because of the way their characters were established.

DW: Yeah, I agree. It was pretty fun and interesting overall, despite the problems we mentioned. I'm wondering if it had been a small indie art-house flick if it would have been better than biggish Hollywood release aimed at a wide audience.
DW: In other words, I wonder if the movie suffered by feeling like it had to pander to everyone's tastes.

SP: That's definitely a possibility.

DW: I guess we'll never know.
DW: Anyway, on to the ratings: As I mentioned to you, leaving the theater I gave it a 13. But upon further reflection, I don't feel like I can give it more than a 10.
DW: Which doesn't bode well—you want a movie to increase in rating the more a person thinks about it, not decrease. So I fear that, if I saw it again, my rating my shrink even further.
DW: I guess if I could give my rating as a barometric reading, I'd say 10 and falling. I think it's still a good movie—I don't think it would ever fall below zero—but I'm less impressed with it now than I was then.

SP: My rating is the same as when I originally left the theater, which is a 7.
SP: And I think mine is pretty concrete

DW: So we're giving it an average rating of 8.5 but falling.

SP: Seems reasonable.

DW: Guilty as charged!
DW: Stranger Than Fiction, I sentence you to lukewarm DVD sales and endless shame when an independent filmmaker totally improves on your premise six years from now.

SP: The prosecution is pleased with your honor's decision.