Stranger Than Fiction

Lonbobby · Post by **Lonbobby** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:48 pm

Eh.

B-

bz£ · Post by **bz£** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:28 am

Ain't that the ruth

Post by jb » Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:27 pm

Loved it. A+++

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:48 am

Is it actually good? I skipped it because everything I heard was a resounding meh. It'll probably be hitting the $2 theater on my block pretty soon; perhaps I should give it a second chance.

frankie big face · Post by **frankie big face** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 3:07 am

I thought it was really good. Like a cross being Being John Malkovich and The Truman Show. Or not. But good nonetheless.

Tonamel · Post by **Tonamel** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 3:10 pm

The beginning and the ending are total and complete awesome. Too bad the middle draaaaaaaaaaged so much. But you should go see it for the beginning and the end. B+

Justincombustion · Post by **Justincombustion** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:51 pm

Immediately moved into my all time top ten. (Of which there are 15)

mico saudad · Post by **mico saudad** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 6:15 pm

A+

A subtle movie with sublime touches.

This movie is about what it means to be a writer.

This movie is actually similar in many respects to Fight Club in the way that the story is told and the mixture of literary and cinematic storytelling techniques. In addition, in both of these movies you can't trust what you see to be the literal truth, but the warped reality you get while watching this is richer than a world of facts.

Tonamel · Post by **Tonamel** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:41 pm

I just saw this again recently, and I actually liked it quite a bit better this time, so I'll bump my rating up to a solid A.

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:58 pm

Maybe I liked it so much because the previews looked so terrible and I had low expectations. I found it surprisingly touching.

Best line: "I just realized my life is a tragedy."

Billy's Little Trip · Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:37 pm

I liked it. But I hate movies that intentionally make me get that painful lump in my throat and make my eyes do that thing, like when I'm cutting onions. Stupid ...onion... throat lump... movies. 8)

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:26 am

I watched this movie on a plane and cried. It was super awkward though as I was sitting next to my music teacher and we were both crying, and then the movie ended and I felt like I should discuss the movie with him or something, but we were both all red-eyed.

It was an okay movie. Yes, it definitely had that "oh, we are going to make you cry so bad!" idea, but the story was kinda sweet. (Even though it seriously dragged at certain points).

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 9:41 pm

Bjam wrote:I was sitting next to my music teacher and we were both crying, and then the movie ended and I felt like I should discuss the movie with him or something.

See, now if I was your music teacher, I would have been honest with you and told you that maybe the stewardesses were just making onion rings up in the cockpit. Then I would have went on by cursing them aloud for not sharing with the common folk aboard flight bla bla bla and started a hoopla.

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Wed May 23, 2007 10:27 pm

oh, man. why have I heard from so many people that this movie was worthwhile. it is not, not really. it fails in all the same ways that The Truman Show failed, and a couple others. not very good. to assign a letter... C-

raisedbywolves · Post by **raisedbywolves** » Sat May 26, 2007 6:49 pm

I think The Truman Show is one of the best movies of the 90's, so we differ there Marcus. But I didn't love this as much as JB and company did either. I think part of that is the fault of the trailer, which more or less shows you the entire movie. There's almost no point in watching it, except to fill in the incidentals and wait for the beats to show up. That said, I still like it and I thought Will Ferrell pretty much nailed the role, and I always love me some Emma Thompson. I would give it a B.

jute gyte · Post by **jute gyte** » Sat May 26, 2007 9:24 pm

What Mkilly said but with a letter grade of F. Formulaic crap with tired barely-there postmodernism for a gimmick.

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Sat May 26, 2007 9:43 pm

raisedbywolves wrote:I think The Truman Show is one of the best movies of the 90's, so we differ there Marcus. But I didn't love this as much as JB and company did either. I think part of that is the fault of the trailer, which more or less shows you the entire movie. There's almost no point in watching it, except to fill in the incidentals and wait for the beats to show up. That said, I still like it and I thought Will Ferrell pretty much nailed the role, and I always love me some Emma Thompson. I would give it a B.

I didn't like Emma Thompson there. I also didn't like um... Dustin Hoffman. I blame writing for both of these. Here's some problems I remember:
+ Maggie Gyllenhaal falling in love with Will Ferrel for no reason
+ that "little did he know" speech. That kind of trite shit is what retards think is awesome, clever writing. If a book says "little did he know," it's a shitty book. That's an overused, hackneyed expression. High schoolers would use that shit. The book in the film could not be the most important book in ten years. Jesus Christ, what was all that shit about the sentient wristwatch? Forced wackiness, that's what.
+ The conceit doesn't hold water. Nobody questions it after a cursory "what's going on."
+ Buster is criminally underused.
+ All of the narration (which is the novel, apparently) is awful. That scene in the guitar store... fuck, man.
+ Why would anyone think this is a great movie? I laughed plenty. Really Will Ferrel is effective in the role, I'll grant that. But it asks too much and gives too little. That's just me.

raisedbywolves · Post by **raisedbywolves** » Sat May 26, 2007 10:28 pm

Heh. Yeah, I told JB that the "little did he know" thing was absolutely awful. What, is Fabio on the cover or something? The book she's writing seems pretty bad, which is, I think, a trap these kinds of things always fall into. Mr. Holland's opus? Shitty. The sketches everyone keeps saying are brilliant on Studio 60? Terrible. Tom Hanks' jokes in Punchline? Bad. Etc. It's much easier to make something intentionally bad (Chris Guest movies) than something that's supposed to be good.

I definitely agree about Maggie G. falling for Will. There was nothing there to support that.

And yeah. I would have liked some more Buster too.

Still, I'll stick with the B.

drë · Post by **drë** » Sun May 27, 2007 2:01 am

Justincombustion wrote:Immediately moved into my all time top ten. (Of which there are 15)

LOL... doesn't that make it your TOP 15 by definition ?

ill leave now, not much of a movie person.

Justincombustion · Post by **Justincombustion** » Sun May 27, 2007 9:42 am

No, my all time top 5 songs are actually 11. It's just that all 11 are good enough to be in the top 5, depending on my mood. Same as movies. But I was born 1/4 insane (Dad was 1/2 insane, 1/2 Alcoholic).

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 11:53 pm

This movie gives me a fucking stomach ache it's so bad. It's like watching the T-1000 try to morph into all the different people once it's been blown into the molten metal. It's like "SKREEEEEE I HEART HUCKABEES SKREEEEEEEEEE ADAPTATION SKREEEEEEE P.T. ANDERSON-CUM-CHARLIE-KAUFMAN MAINSTREAM FLUFF VERSIONS OF ACTUAL UNIQUE IDEAS BULL FUCKING SHIT!" I've seen fucking first year writing students write this kind of po-mo doldrums pap.

edit: "Little did he know means there's something he doesn't know..." I can just imagine the seminar that came out of that one. Fucking A.

Märk · Post by **Märk** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:26 pm

Man, fuck all y'all. I might have even had a lump in my throat towards the end, This was way better than Talledega Nights, B+.