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Stranger Than Fiction (Review)

I have always enjoyed watching movies with Will Ferrell and thoroughly enjoyed watching him on Saturday Night Live, but sometimes I crave the more serious roles, and with Will Ferrell they are far in between. It’s actually quite rare to see him in a serious role. Though it does happen occasionally. And I honestly don’t think it’s because Hollywood don’t want him in serious roles, actually I am pretty sure they would be happy to give him those roles. I think it’s because he has cemented himself as the funny guy, and trust me, when he is funny he is fucking funny.

But that doesn’t mean he cannot be in a serious role, not at all, the few movies that has him play a serious role are basically almost masterpieces in their own right. Movies like Everything Must Go, Winter Passing, and yes even Melinda And Melinda. But I honestly don’t think it gets any better than “Stranger Than Fiction” And I do believe that most will agree with me as Stranger Than Fiction has the highest rating of all the movies that he has been serious in. Not alone is Will Ferrell playing an eerie realistic portrayal as Harold Crick, the plot is also quite interesting with an amazing cast. Everything seems to come together in a small neat package. As I mentioned in my review of Maggie from 2015, there are various movies that I don’t watch from the get-go, Stranger Than Fiction is not one of those movies, right from the start I wanted to watch the movie, probably mainly because it starred Will Ferrell in that serious role. I should clarify to everyone that I did not just watch this movie, I have watched it many times, and the first time I watched it was back when it was released. I must have watched this movie more than at least fifty times by now. It never gets old for me.

If I had a top ten list of movies that I believe you can watch multiple times, and that never gets old, this one would be on the list and it would be high on that list. Heck I even placed Stranger Than Fiction as number eighty-one on my top hundred movies of all time. So I don’t need to tell you that I love this movie, and I don’t need to tell you that I do believe you need to watch it, especially if you haven’t watched it before. Stranger Than Fiction was released in 2006 the story was penned by Zach Helm and the movie was directed by Marc Forster, none of these have written or directed anything special, and from looking at their pages, it became obvious to me that I believe that the best they ever did was this movie. And looking at the ratings, it also holds the highest, at least in their respective roles. Stranger Than Fiction is a drama, fantasy movie with sprinkles of comedy thrown in. It has a rating on IMDB of 7.6 and a Metascore of 67 which isn’t bad at all. It stars Will Ferrell as the main character Harold Crick, as well as Maggie Gyllenhaal as Ana Pascal, Emma Thompson as Karen Eiffel, Queen Latifah as Penny Escher and Dustin Hoffman as Professor Jules Hilbert. With most of the movies I have talked about recently I call the supporting actors mainly fluff, but in this movie, every little character comes together to create an ensemble of important characters while the focus of course is on Will Ferrell all the actors give something to the story.

The main focus in this story is however of course centered completely on Will Ferrell’s character Harold Crick who finds out that his life is a story written and narrated by a woman. He finds out that he is supposed to die, and not giving up he decides to give it all to find out who this narrator is and ultimately do his best to find a way to survive. The story isn’t as complex as I am making it sound, but there are hidden messages in the movie and it does surely have depth. The movie is heavily structured and almost all the decisions done in the movie by Harold Crick is narrated and explained to the viewer, it’s like you are listening to the same story that Harold Crick hears in his head. So the story isn’t that simple, but then again not as complex as some other movies out there, and it works out quite well. Will Ferrell brings Harold Crick to life in a beautifully and stunning way, you feel with the character, you want to find out what he wants to find out, and Harold Crick is a very likeable character that you do want to succeed. It’s like watching a completely different side of Will Ferrell, one that will surely not leave you too quickly. As I mentioned Will Ferrell isn’t known for the more serious roles, but he proves in this movie that he is able to do them. Maggie Gyllenhaal who plays Ana Pascal and who is the love interest in the movie has a mesmerizing role as Ana Pascal, she complements Will Ferrell in a way not many can.

Both act as they want each other, both act with sincerity and they work simply because they seem completely right for each other. It’s hard to explain, you have to watch the movie to get why I am actually saying this. I am not going to go into detail with any of the other characters as I do believe it would ruin the experience for you. I am just going to say that both Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson play in a genuine and fulfilling way.  This isn’t some action movie, there aren’t any special effects in this movie, it’s as simple as it gets. Despite this the visuals are all beautifully done, it’s feels soft throughout the entire movie, and I most compliment the director for not using to many cuts, in fact this movie has only a few of them. There are of course the obligatory padding in this movie, but I don’t mind it too much, it happens only two times in the movie, and when they do it doesn’t seem like they were done in a way as to stall the movie.

The music played in Stranger Than Fiction is mostly tracks from known bands or singers, and some short tracks that complement the movie, they aren’t anything out of the ordinary and they aren’t going to move you too much, they are there, and when they play they fit, but you don’t notice them too much. However this movie does have one track that you most certainly will notice is Califone’s Bottles And Bones, I won’t tell you why you will notice it, but believe when the track is played you will be moved I am sure of it. It’s also by far the best track in the entire movie. I would love to tell you that the track was made for the movie, but it isn’t.In the beginning I told you that I like Will Ferrell’s movies, and I really do, most of them, but it’s these special movies that only comes very rarely that push it over the limit. Not only is the acting of Will Ferrell in this movie extraordinary, I would go as far as to tell you that it’s probably the best I have ever seen by him. And I will always wonder why he doesn’t take more serious roles. Or mix it a little more up, because he does deserve it, and so do we.

In an amazing library of movies that all stand out, with laughs and with an always spot on comedic presence and what almost always seems like a sincere actor, it’s nice to frequently see Will Ferrell do something else, because when he does, he elevates the audience, moves them to a whole other level, he creates a magical touch, that stays with the viewer.

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C64 Music Archives!

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