RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Stranger Than Fiction
Stranger Than Fiction

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
72 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

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.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for some disturbing images, sexuality, brief language and nudity.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Comedies

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.... 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

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Stranger Than Fiction

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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 Source: Reeler | comment Comment
02/09/07
Michelle Orange
Michelle Orange
Reeler

An uncommonly plastic bit of Hallmark sentiment-mongering, with exactly the kind of New Age psychobabble ending you’d expect.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
02/03/07
Joshua Rothkopf
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York

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

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

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 Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
01/24/07
Jette Kernion
Jette Kernion
Cinematical

A concept film, but wow, what a concept!

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/13/07
Uri Lessing
Uri Lessing
eFilmCritic.com

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 Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
01/11/07
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

[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

When it flies, it soars. But it develops leaden feet as it spins over into a convoluted, overly long wind down. This is an intelligent, engaging film that gets it right, for the most part, before ultimately capitulating to the demands of Hollywood.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
12/30/06
Les Wright
Les Wright
culturevulture.net

Ferrell breaks the mold in this pleasantly surprising, terrific film.

Full Review Source: cinemaobsession.com | comment Comment
12/22/06
Jeff Otto
Jeff Otto
cinemaobsession.com

Stranger than Fiction is more high-concept than high-brow; a comedy heavy on gimmick that falls a little short of cunning.

Full Review Source: Peterborough This Week | comment Comment
12/06/06
Mike Sage
Mike Sage
Peterborough This Week

Give Ferrell as many roles like this as he can possibly handle.

Full Review Source: Norman Transcript | comment Comment
12/04/06
Jim Chastain
Jim Chastain
Norman Transcript

Never really makes sense of its metafictional conceit, but at least Marc Foster refuses to accept the current Hollywood conventional wisdom that movie comedies should be as visually bland as TV sitcoms.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
12/01/06
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Stranger Than Fiction is not clever enough to reach Adaptation's upscale audiences or funny or entertaining enough for more mass consumption.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
12/01/06
Doris Toumarkine
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International

It may not be a masterpiece like [the writer's] new novel, but it's an entertaining story.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
11/27/06
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

for all its faults, it blazes new trails in mixing popular entertainment and philosophy, not to mention metaphysics, with enough panache to make it all seem eminently sensible.

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/25/06
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

The movie's vigorous efforts to channel Charlie Kaufman and Andrew Niccol, leave it looking rather familiar, not strange at all.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
11/25/06
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

In many ways, Harold does not come across as a real character. He is more of a conceit than anything, defined entirely by quirky character traits, rather than simple humanity.

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
11/25/06
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

An amusing little quirky vehicle that not only entertains, but actually contains a few thought provoking scenes.

Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | comment Comment
11/25/06
Scott Nash
Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs

Unlike the brainier Kaufman stories, it's easy to understand how matters are proceeding here without an air of pretentiousness.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
11/24/06
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
all

Latest News for Stranger Than Fiction

November 15, 2007: Box Office Guru Preview: Beowulf Set To Conquer Multiplexes
One animated film will bump another from the number one spot at the North American box office. But the new warrior Beowulf is no B movie but an A-list production from an... More...

November 08, 2007: Box Office Guru Preview: Fred Claus is Coming to Town
Vince Vaughn and Tom Cruise go head to head at the North American box office this weekend with their latest releases. The dodgeball champ goes for holiday laughs with Fred Claus... More...

June 20, 2007: The Next "Bond" Director Has Been Chosen
And it's certainly nobody you'd expect! More...

May 21, 2007: Four Directors Up for the Next "Bond" Flick?
Curious to know who'll be directing the next James Bond flick? Join the club. One source has a short list of potential helmers, all of whom would be pretty ... distinctive. More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
40% 40% Surrogates
83% 83% Whip It
29% 29% Gamer
97% 97% The Hurt Locker
81% 81% Michael Jackson's This…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
87% 87% A Serious Man
37% 37% The Time Traveler's Wife
78% 78% Bronson
11% 11% The Stepfather

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Oscar Nominations

Oscar Nominations

The Academy have chosen their contenders.

Anika Noni Rose

Anika Noni Rose

Disney's new princess picks her 5 Fave Films.

Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges

The Crazy Heart star's best roles, ranked.

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton gives RT an exclusive peek.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Tom Cruise Accepts Another Mission: Impossible Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
32
  • Chris Nolan on Board for Dark Knight Sequel -- and Superman Reboot? Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
258
  • Tim Robbins Joins Green Lantern Source: Hollywood Reporter
58
  • Fox Moves Forward with 24 Movie Source: HitFix
8
  • Bill Murray Talks Ghostbusters III Source: Sunday Mail [UK]
56
  • Captain America News, News, and More News Source: Collider.com
20
  • Taylor Lautner Is Stretch Armstrong Source: MTV
78
  • Weekly Ketchup: Sci-Fi at the Oscars, Raimi eyes The Shadow
288
  • Percy Jackson Star (Briefly) Rumored for Spider-Man Reboot Source: Hollywood Reporter
35
  • Five Facts About Alice in Wonderland
140
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Jeff Bridges' Best Movies
114
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Avatar Finally Toppled by Dear John
104
  • Weekly Ketchup: Sci-Fi at the Oscars, Raimi eyes The Shadow
96
  • Five Facts About Alice in Wonderland
70
  • Five Favorite Films With Precious' Gabby Sidibe
35
  • Friday Harvest: The Last Airbender, The A-Team, and more!
27
  • Critics Consensus: From Paris With Love Is Not Bon
22
  • Total Recall: Anthony Hopkins' Best Movies
19
  • Five Favourite Films with Anika Noni Rose
17
  • Awards Tour: Pixar and Disney Rule The Annies
15
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Oscar Nominee Gabby Sidibe Talks Precious
20
  • One Man's Quest To Find The Worst Movie Ever
7
  • Five Favorite Films With Peter Jackson
77
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
22
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
3
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
13
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
24
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
16
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Stranger Than Fiction at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Stranger Than Fiction at IGN
  • Stranger Than Fiction at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

Competitions
Get the Flixster App Now
Get the Flixster App Now External Link

Download it from iTunes and get Tomatometer scores straight to your iPhone.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo
About Us | Advertise | Contact Us | Press | Careers
IGN | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | Direct2Drive | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Game Sites | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | GIGA.DE | What They Play | Battlefield Heroes
By continuing past this page, and by your continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2010, IGN Entertainment, Inc. | Support | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! RSS Feeds
IGN’s enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA.
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.