Stranger Than Fiction

I really expected this film to be amusing, possibly charming but ultimately disappointing. How could they possibly explain, in a satisfactory way, the device at the center of the plot? I was asking wrong question. The team behind this film asked the right one: Why explain how a writer and the character she writes about exist in the same reality? It’s not important. How the two of them discover that they occupy the same space and then deal with it is. Just wonderful. I enjoyed every minute of this film from the opening sequence through the closing credits. The writing, the acting, and the cinematography are all top notch. Will Ferrell is a delight as the staid auditor. I had no idea he could play so quiet so well. All the rest (Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Queen Latifah, and Tom Hulce) are just as terrific. The film has a great visual style that takes full advantage of Chicago’s architecture (both the beautiful and the not so beautiful). I was really taken by many of the shots in this film: sitting by the river under a yellow umbrella, chatting on the double-bus in the center pivoting seat, all the opening shots explaining Harold to us, and standing in front of the bodega. Especially the shot from the hospital room, as beautiful as the shot in Match Point from Chris’ new apartment over the Thames. Stunning and amusing all at once.
Favorite moment: The cookie scene.
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