Ignorant Movie Review:  Stranger than Fiction

Response to title:  So, more odd than what isn't true.  The title sounds familiar, but nothing specific comes to mind.  All-in-all, it's just kind've an empty title; could be anything at all.  Wait, wasn't that a Bad Religion album?

Response to curbside poster:  Oh, now I know why I recognize the title, it's the latest Will Ferrell movie.  And Dustin Hoffman is in it?  So, Hollywood comes to Capitol Theater and I'm guessing Comedy.

Response post-credits:  Imagine reading the story of Gregor Samsa leading up to his metamorphosis, and imagine Samsa knows what's coming.  Stranger than Fiction attempts to tell just such a tale. 

There's a lot I enjoyed about this movie.  It has a playfulness with the Comedy and Drama genres that just about qualifies it as a Satire of either, or both.   It wrestles with conventions of author, character and critic.  Will Ferrell manages to be not completely goofy, and in the process pulls off a believable I.R.S. auditor performance.   And, my favorite example of literary play, the physical manifestation of the deux ex machina when Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) seeks to elude the fates by rejecting action in a heroic anti-existentialist day of nothing.   For all of the film's playful aspects I enjoyed, though, it's one big apologetic for modern Hollywood films against the criticism of gritty Indy Films, which weakens its overall Quality.   Instead of eagerly looking for the writer's name, I left the theater feeling that Charlie Kaufman's success has spawned poor imitations in Tinsel Town.  One final gripe, I hate it when a work (film, play, short story, poem, etc.) uses the authority of a character to tell us that something explicit is genius; let the audience decide and quit trying to do the thinking for us!  Despite my problems with the film, it is a fun movie and it's definitely family friendly.

Rating:  3.05 out of 5 Oly Stubbies.

Film Haiku:  Pink tie apple mouth
                    fitfully typed on pages
                  "I've brought you flours."

Extra Credit:  How many times can you spot the boom mic?  I saw it so many times that I almost wonder if it wasn't intentional; a further muddling of fiction and reality?

Can be seen:  Olympia Film Society
                            206 5th Ave N
                        Olympia, WA  98501

                Tuesday, January 2, 6:30pm
                Wednesday, January 3, 9pm
               Thursday, January 4, 6:30pm