Zzzzz
I'm very sleepy but I will write a review of Stranger than Fiction, because I promised to ;)
The movie was surprisingly dark and morbid, given that Will Ferrell and Queen Latifah were in it. The premise: Emma Thompson is a writer, and Will Ferrell is one of her fictional creations. She's about to kill him off. Queen Latifah is a subdued author's assistant who helps Emma meet her deadline; Dustin Hoffman is a professor/faculty lifeguard who listens to Will's complaints of a voice in his head (which is Emma's voice, narrating Will's story).
Dustin encourages Will to find out if his story is a comedy or a tragedy (happily ever after, or will he die in the end?). Armed with a notebook, Will goes to Maggie Gyllenhaal's bakery (he's auditing her) and puts check marks in the tragedy/comedy columns.
The last quarter of the movie was pretty disturbing. It was cute and quirky up to that point, and then it takes a dark turn. And the ending doesn't really fit with what came before.
D didn't like it. He thought it was a downer, "and you don't see Will Ferrell and Queen Latifah for a downer." He also thought Dustin Hoffman was talking "a lot of pretentious literary mumbo-jumbo" and that Emma Thompson was "fakely angstful." However, the literary "mumbo-jumbo" took me back to my college days, and I thought Emma's dark moods were typical of most artists. So it didn't bother me.
But I didn't like the sad part.
The movie was surprisingly dark and morbid, given that Will Ferrell and Queen Latifah were in it. The premise: Emma Thompson is a writer, and Will Ferrell is one of her fictional creations. She's about to kill him off. Queen Latifah is a subdued author's assistant who helps Emma meet her deadline; Dustin Hoffman is a professor/faculty lifeguard who listens to Will's complaints of a voice in his head (which is Emma's voice, narrating Will's story).
Dustin encourages Will to find out if his story is a comedy or a tragedy (happily ever after, or will he die in the end?). Armed with a notebook, Will goes to Maggie Gyllenhaal's bakery (he's auditing her) and puts check marks in the tragedy/comedy columns.
The last quarter of the movie was pretty disturbing. It was cute and quirky up to that point, and then it takes a dark turn. And the ending doesn't really fit with what came before.
D didn't like it. He thought it was a downer, "and you don't see Will Ferrell and Queen Latifah for a downer." He also thought Dustin Hoffman was talking "a lot of pretentious literary mumbo-jumbo" and that Emma Thompson was "fakely angstful." However, the literary "mumbo-jumbo" took me back to my college days, and I thought Emma's dark moods were typical of most artists. So it didn't bother me.
But I didn't like the sad part.
Comments
But I have liked the trailers for this movie, and the premise is intriguing. I think I am going to see this, and your review helped the decision along. Cheers.
Thanks for the review!