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Movies / On DVD / Stranger Than Fiction
Stranger Than Fiction

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Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

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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

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Reviews for Stranger Than Fiction

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
splat
2/5

Peter Bradshaw

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 Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 30 2006 07:12 AM

Guardian [UK]

tomato
3/5

Stella Papamichael

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 Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 30 2006 06:52 AM

BBC

tomato
4/5

Ian Freer

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 29 2006 02:10 AM

Empire Magazine

splat

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 28 2006 04:33 AM

Time Out

tomato
5/5

Matthew Turner

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 28 2006 04:33 AM

ViewLondon

tomato
4.5/5

Rich Cline

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 28 2006 04:33 AM

Shadows on the Wall

splat
C-

Cole Smithey

"Stranger Than Fiction" is a sterile and pedantic comedy that tells much more than it shows.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 29 2009 08:44 PM

ColeSmithey.com

tomato

Fernando F. Croce

Suggests how cleverness can suffocate people

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 28 2009 11:12 AM

CinePassion

splat
2.5/4

Peter Keough

Forster lards over his whimsically feeble film with sentimentality.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 23 2009 03:16 AM

Boston Phoenix

tomato
81/100

Brian Webster

Some of Will Ferrell's biggest fans might find it overly tame and subtle, but it's interesting, enjoyable and a revelation to see he can keep his pants on and still entertain.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 03 2008 11:17 AM

Apollo Guide

splat

Felix Gonzalez Jr.

It could have been great. But it's just okay.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 02 2008 11:01 AM

DVD Review

splat
2/5

Brian Marder

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 20 2008 03:16 AM

Hollywood.com

tomato

Bob Mondello

The actors and the filmmakers all take a more restrained approach than you might expect, keeping the humor gentle, and the jokes mostly as literary as the premise.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 06:38 AM

NPR.org

tomato
3/5

Jonathan Kiefer

The movie’s unforgivable logical flaws and gummy platitudes don’t sink it...thanks to Ferrell’s fine and humane performance.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 07 2008 03:16 AM

Sacramento News & Review

tomato
7/10

Brandon Fibbs

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 Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 28 2008 01:41 PM

BrandonFibbs.com

splat

Beth Accomando

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 Source: | comment Comment | Sep., 22 2007 08:48 PM

KPBS.org

splat
2.5/4

Joe Lozito

Though there are enough interesting moments to keep it refreshing, Mr. Helm's script never rises above its conceit to reach the giddy Charlie Kaufman heights to which it aspires.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jul., 14 2007 05:46 AM

Big Picture Big Sound

splat
2/5

Enrique Buchichio

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 Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 17 2007 03:13 PM

Uruguay Total

splat

Brian Tallerico

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 Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 24 2007 12:13 PM

UGO

tomato
4/5

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

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 Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 06 2007 06:40 PM

Spirituality and Practice

 
 
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