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Movies / Upcoming / Stranger Than Fiction
Stranger Than Fiction

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Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

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Reviews Counted:165

Fresh:119

Rotten:46

Average Rating:6.8/10

Consensus: A fun, whimsical tale about about an office drone trying to save his life from his narrator. The cast obviously is having a blast with the script, but Stranger Than Fiction's tidy lessons make this metaphysical movie feel like Charlie Kaufman-lite.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Comedies

US Box Office: $40,137,776

Synopsis: One morning, a seemingly average and generally solitary IRS agent named Harold Crick begins to hear a female voice narrating his every action, thought and feeling in alarmingly precise detail.... One morning, a seemingly average and generally solitary IRS agent named Harold Crick begins to hear a female voice narrating his every action, thought and feeling in alarmingly precise detail. Harold's carefully controlled life is turned upside down by this narration only he can hear, and when the voice declares that Harold Crick is facing imminent death, he realizes he must find out who is writing his story and persuade her to change the ending. The voice in Harold's head turns out to be the once celebrated, but now nearly forgotten, novelist Karen "Kay" Eiffel (Emma Thompson), who is struggling to find an ending for what might be her best book. Her only remaining challenge is to figure out a way to kill her main character, but little does she know that Harold Crick is alive and well and inexplicably aware of her words and her plans for him. To make matters worse, Kay's publisher has dispatched a hard-nosed "assistant," Penny Escher (Queen Latifah), to force Kay to finish her novel and finish off Harold Crick. Desperate to take control of his destiny and avoid an untimely demise, Harold seeks help from a literary theorist named Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who suggests that Harold might be able to change his fate by turning his story from a tragedy into a comedy. Professor Hilbert suggests that Harold try to follow one of comedy's most elemental formulas: a love story between two people who hate each other. His suggestion leads Harold to initiate an unlikely romance with a free-spirited baker named Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Harold experiences true love and true life for the first time, he becomes convinced that he has escaped his fate, as his story seems to be taking on all the trappings of a comedy in which he will not, and cannot, die. But Harold is unaware that in a Karen Eiffel tragedy, the lead characters always die at exactly the moment when they have the most to live for. Harold and Kay find themselves in unexplored territory as each must weigh the value of a single human existence against what might just be an immortal work of art: a novel about life and death -- and taxes. --© Sony Pictures [More]

Starring: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman

Starring: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Tony Hale, Queen Latifah, Kristin Chenoweth

Director: Marc Forster

Director: Marc Forster
Producer: Lindsay Doran, Aubrey Henderson, Jim Miller, Brittany Daniel
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Reviews for Stranger Than Fiction

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: In Film Australia | comment Comment
02/14/07
In Film Australia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ferrell rules in this film. I take back my words of prejudice. This is the smartest film in town.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
01/26/07
Paul Byrnes
Paul Byrnes
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Writer's block has never been so entertaining.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
01/25/07
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Who hasn't imagined that they're a main character in a book or movie? Perhaps it is this manic egocentric nature of my personality that made me fall in love with the film.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
11/17/06
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

...Just another run of the mill, disappointingly mediocre comedy.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
11/09/06
Rebecca Murray
Rebecca Murray
About.com

This is Will Ferrell's Being John Malkovich or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but not as good as either of those other comedies of the mind.

Full Review Source: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) | comment Comment
11/17/06
John Wirt
John Wirt
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

There may have been some room for improvement, but the movie still has a lot of things to recommend it. Stranger Than Fiction is funny and poignant at the same time.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
11/12/06
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

Some of Will Ferrell's biggest fans might find it overly tame and subtle, but it's interesting, enjoyable and a revelation to see he can keep his pants on and still entertain.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
12/03/08
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

For much of the film, Ferrell must suppress his showman instincts to pull off the schlub act. That's good for the film, but it's bad for fans who expect him to scream obscenities and run down the street naked.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
11/10/06
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

If Stranger Than Fiction has a central flaw, it's overly sentimental. Although the story would work better as a tragedy, Forster and Helm can't resist tacking on a mushy love story, involving Crick and combative tax cheat Ana Pascal.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
11/10/06
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

...a nice story, with a whimsical metafictional touch, but it's a long way from mind-blowing.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
11/12/06
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Stranger Than Fiction is the most original comedy of the year, a mind-bending tale with one foot in the real world and the other in pure fiction.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment 1 Comment
11/09/06
Hap Erstein
Hap Erstein
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A good movie but not a great one, Stranger Than Fiction is reminiscent of the films of Charlie Kaufman.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
11/09/06
Josh Rosenblatt
Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle

[Stranger Than Fiction] springs to life whenever it drops the cute Pirandello-like premise and focuses on the simple business of Ferrell finding love.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
11/09/06
Scott Tobias
Scott Tobias
AV Club

Instead of finishing with a bang it peters out, but this existential yarn is still fresh and funny enough to justify taking two hours out of your life.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
11/30/06
Stella Papamichael
Stella Papamichael
BBC

Ferrell doesn't give his typical over-the-top performance here, but rather creates a terrific, understated character that produces a huge amount of empathy and likeability.

Full Review Source: Beaumont Journal | comment Comment
11/03/06
Danny Minton
Danny Minton
Beaumont Journal

Though there are enough interesting moments to keep it refreshing, Mr. Helm's script never rises above its conceit to reach the giddy Charlie Kaufman heights to which it aspires.

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

[J]ust the kind of numbskull movie that critics call 'smart'.

Full Review Source: Blogcritics.org | comment 1 Comment
12/31/06
Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Blogcritics.org

Stranger Than Fiction is uptight. [Writer Zach] Helm is clearly pro-love and happy endings, but he's short on loose, fresh ideas.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
11/10/06
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

Forster lards over his whimsically feeble film with sentimentality.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
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