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MOVIES / ON DVD / STRANGER THAN FICTION
Stranger Than Fiction

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Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

73%
70%
90%
N/A
N/A
N/A
73 %
Reviews Counted: 154 Fresh: 112  Rotten:42 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.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Rated: 12A

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Theatrical Release: 01-12-2006

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. Harold's carefully controlled life is turned upside down by this narration only he can hear, and... 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]

Genre: Comedies

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

Director: Marc Forster
Producer: Lindsay Doran, Aubrey Henderson, Jim Miller, Brittany Daniel

DVD Info

Release:

Mar 2, 2009

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Dubbed - French - Optional
  • Subtitles - English, French - Optional
  • Subtitles - English - Closed Captioned

Additional Release Material:

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Featurettes - 1. "Actors in Search of a Story"
  • 2. "Building the Team"
  • 3. "On Location in Chicago"
  • 4. "Words on a Page"
  • 5. "Picture a Number: A Look at the Special Effects"
  • 6. "On the Set: A Montage of Funny On the Set Moments"
  • Interviews - Lindsay Doran - Producer; Zach Helm - Screenwriter

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
2/5

Screenwriter Zach Helm's comedy has some quirky points, but it's very sugary and sentimental, and feeble compared to the work of those who have done the same sort of thing better: Woody Allen or Charlie Kaufman.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/30/06
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

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 | comment Comment
11/30/06
Stella Papamichael
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

It might be Charlie Kaufman lite, but this is a great date movie for the discerning - smart, ingenious and heartwarming.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/29/06
Ian Freer
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

The film struggles under its increasingly weighty pretensions to literary credibility and even tragic status, stumbling towards an unconvincing and cloying conclusion.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/28/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
5/5

Brilliantly written, thoughtful and frequently hilarious comedy with impressive direction and terrific performances from the entire cast.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/28/06
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
Ratings Image
4.5/5

A sharply clever script, witty direction and terrific performances across the board.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/28/06
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
7/10

Stranger Than Fiction is not a fluff film. Far from it. Literate and engaging, it may parade around in nonsensical clothes, but just scratch the surface and a vast reservoir of post-modern existentialism is revealed.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/28/08
Brandon Fibbs
BrandonFibbs.com
Ratings Image
N/A

The place where the film runs into problems is in trying to decide, like Harold, as to whether or not it is a comedy or a tragedy. As we know, comedy sells much better and that's the direction the film leans.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/22/07
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org
Ratings Image
2.5/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
Ratings Image
2/5

No es ni una comedia, ni una tragedia, ni una historia de amor, ni una fábula. Es ni más ni menos que una idea original mal desarrollada, que no entretiene lo suficiente y que conduce a ninguna parte.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/17/07
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total
Ratings Image
N/A

Stranger Than Fiction never rises above its eye-catching premise, ending up as nothing more than a great idea with absolutely nowhere to go.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/24/07
Brian Tallerico
UGO
Ratings Image
4/5

An endearing comedy about the spiritual transformation of a rigid, shy, and lonely I.R.S. agent whose life is upended by forces beyond his control.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/06/07
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
Ratings Image
N/A

Stranger Than Fiction has a self-regard that can grate, but Ferrell and Thompson give winning performances that suggest the film's aim is true.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/09/07
Michelle Orange
Reeler
Ratings Image
1/6

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
02/03/07
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
01/26/07
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

Writer's block has never been so entertaining.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/25/07
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Ratings Image
3.5/5

It's a shame that Stranger Than Fiction doesn't quite sustain its premise, but it's so entertaining that you might not even notice.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/24/07
Jette Kernion
Cinematical
Ratings Image
4/5

A concept film, but wow, what a concept!

Full Review | comment Comment
01/13/07
Uri Lessing
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
4/5

Consegue desenvolver sua história de forma sempre interessante e com uma sensibilidade que certamente surpreenderá aqueles que forem ao cinema esperando assistir a uma comédia (algo que este longa não é).

Full Review | comment Comment
01/11/07
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image
N/A

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

Full Review | comment 1 Comment
12/31/06
Alan Dale
Blogcritics.org
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Related Forums

great movie until the last 10 mins
by: mr. t 7/23


look at will ferrel rockin' out ahahaha!
by: jaye21 6/30/07


troicat
Yawn!
by: troicat 4/9/07


Touching, Funny and Inventive - 'Fiction' At Its Finest
by: MH and THE MOVIES 3/5/07


watch this for free online
by: BoineCracker 3/1/07
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