Stranger Than Fiction
Friday, March 09, 2007
3.5 GOOMBAS
Will Farrell is kind of a hit or miss for me. Sometimes I think his characters are totally likable. Other times they're just quite annoying, mainly because they're so insane. I do appreciate Will Farrell and his ability to bring out his inner-little boy (I'm a sucker for the little boy act, but not whiny little boy, innocent little boy), a quality that I don't think any other comedian of his caliber posses.
Stranger Than Fiction is about Harold Crick. He lives a pretty monotone kind of life, but extraordinarily, he starts hearing a voice that is narrating his life. In the meantime, we meet Karen Eiffel, played by Emma Thompson, who is actually a very depressed, artistic spirit of an author writing a novel. She is totally oblivious to the fact that she is basing her novel on Harold Crick, a real, actual person.
This film is nicely put together. There are some charming visual graphics that help articulate details and bring interest to an otherwise "whatever" kind of shot at the beginning of the film. It also brings up the pretty weighty theme of destiny vs. free will in a light kind of way. Harold chose his destiny with heroism, and yet 'The Narrator' interferes with a destiny of her own.
I liked this movie, so I recommend it for a Friday happy kind of movie night.