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Massawyrm Loves STRANGER THAN FICTION!!



Hola all. Massawyrm here.


It’s rare to come across a film that is equally delightful as it is literate. A film that is sharp, smart and comical, but just warms the very cockles of your heart while watching it. Usually this is the type of thing reserved for the classics of romantic literature – like a Jayne Austin adaptation. But as it turns out, Stranger than Fiction is just such a film. To describe it you have to draw on phrases like positively wonderful, absolutely enchanting or the word I ended up choosing above, simply, delightful. Because that’s what this is. Stranger than Fiction is the single best comedy I’ve seen all year.

One of those uncommon comedies that manages to transcend the genre and enter Oscar level territory (an award rarely offered to comedies) this film sets itself apart from the very beginning. There’s something about Emma Thompson’s melodic voice narrating the daily doldrums of her character’s life that takes what would normally be dull as shit and instead makes it effervescent. It gives the film the feel of reading a really great novel, which of course is the point. You feel enmeshed in a wonderful piece of literature rather than watching a strange, almost self-referential, comedy.

It is a feeling almost like watching a Charlie Kaufman film, directed by Albert Brooks, if Charlie Kaufman had become addicted to uppers, fell in love and then decided to write something a bit happier than he usually does. And every moment of it works.

Now long time readers will note that I share no particular love for Will Ferrell. I loved the hell out of Elf – where his man-child shtick was actually put to excellent use – and I’ve quite enjoyed a few of his supporting roles. But as a lead, his brand of comedy just doesn’t click with me. So seeing him in something like this was fantastic. This is his Man on the Moon, his Punch Drunk Love, in which he steps away from the comedy that made him and moves into a more mature style – putting himself in the hands of other comedians and properly exposing himself to a whole new audience that had long since written him off. This is the film that causes guys like me, and the scores of others out there, to stop muttering God I hate Will Farrell before shuffling into one of his movies. Yes, haters, it is that good.

And while Ferrell is the driving force and heart of the film, he is backed up by an absolutely spectacular cast including the aforementioned Emma Thompson as the neurotic novelist desperately struggling with writer’s block, Queen Latifah as her liason with the publisher chomping at the bit for the next book, Dustin Hoffman as the literature professor trying to help Ferrell discover what kind of novel he’s in and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the angry baker Ferrell is forced to audit. And everyone is in top form, most notably Thompson who is positively endearing and Gyllenhaal who is probably more adorable than she’s ever been on film. You simply fall in love with every wonderful character and delight in every moment you spend with them.

Marc Forster’s direction is top notch. This is a guy who seems all over the map stylistically. From his moody, Oscar nominated and winning Monster’s Ball, to his lovable Oscar nominated and Winning Finding Neverland, to his dreadfully mediocre and not even remotely nominated existential film Stay, the mans work hints at someone who refuses to stay nailed down to one type of film. Even the style of his films change from effort to effort. Here, his decision to uses what appears to be hand drawn outlines to simulate the things going on in Harold Crick’s (Ferrell) mind is possibly one of the best such devices I’ve seen used in recent film. Perfectly illustrating the things that neither the acting nor the narration could interestingly convey, it is little touches like this that make this my favorite of not only Ferrell’s body of work, but of Forster’s. And with Monster’s Ball and Finding Neverland in that résumé, that’s saying an awful lot.

And on a personal note, I’d like to interrupt this sloppy blowjob of a review to personally thank Mr. Forster for his film Monster’s Ball. Not for the nudity or the quality of the film, but simply for the name. You see, once upon a time I was but a lowly video store clerk, schilling out mainstream films to costumers of a large retail chain store. And when Monster’s Ball won Halle Berry best Actress, droves of middle aged women swarmed the store looking for the film. But for some reason, the middle aged female mind had an extremely hard time wrapping itself around the title of the film and always, every single god damned time, transposed the ‘S’ from one word to the other. Some of the best moments of my video store career involved answering the oft asked question “Excuse me sir, but do you have Monster Balls?”.

Yes ma’am, I most certainly do.

So, thank you Mr. Forster. Now back to your regularly scheduled geekboy gushing, already in progress…

There isn’t a flaw in this film, not a single wasted moment, not a single wasted line. Everything about it, even on down to the bizarre casting choice of those two irritating guys that are always sitting in their car in those Sonic restaurant ads (together as Harold’s co-workers) comes out just right. I quite simply cannot recommend this film enough. Highest Recommendation.

Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. I know I will.

Massawyrm

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Reader Talkback

Bamn you Dichael May
by ledbetter51
Oct 26th, 2006
07:06:34 AM
So...
by WizardX
Oct 26th, 2006
07:07:01 AM
Sounds pretty damn good man.
by Cameron1
Oct 26th, 2006
07:10:21 AM
It has a new Spoon song on the soundtrack...
by rbatty024
Oct 26th, 2006
07:27:33 AM
Funnier than Borat??
by Igouptoeleven
Oct 26th, 2006
07:29:48 AM
i'da said Truman Show over Man on the Moon
by triplefive
Oct 26th, 2006
07:33:29 AM
Plant
by tile_mcgillus
Oct 26th, 2006
07:41:15 AM
Monster Balls
by The Pusher
Oct 26th, 2006
08:04:33 AM
Actually, my balls are pretty normal...
by Garbageman33
Oct 26th, 2006
08:28:11 AM
My balls are not that big either
by Kristian66
Oct 26th, 2006
08:30:27 AM
Damn you Michael Bay
by MCMLXXVI
Oct 26th, 2006
08:31:44 AM
Massa, I see you got that vagina transplant already
by YackBacker
Oct 26th, 2006
08:33:24 AM
"Jayne" Austin...?
by Osmosis Jones
Oct 26th, 2006
08:47:36 AM
Well, color me surprised.
by Childe Roland
Oct 26th, 2006
08:50:55 AM
I totally agree
by solidseaweed
Oct 26th, 2006
08:52:10 AM
Funnier than Borat??
by EnemyWithin
Oct 26th, 2006
09:08:32 AM
A FEW POINTS
by richier123
Oct 26th, 2006
09:29:08 AM
I also have little use for Will Ferrel...
by Trancer
Oct 26th, 2006
09:29:15 AM
Jayne Austin? Classic...
by Alonzo Mosely
Oct 26th, 2006
10:13:25 AM
Also, I know someone who was an extra in this movie...
by Alonzo Mosely
Oct 26th, 2006
10:21:09 AM
It can be a better film wirthout being funnier than
by ChorleyFM
Oct 26th, 2006
10:57:05 AM
I'm sorry, Massa.
by Sasha Nein
Oct 26th, 2006
11:02:55 AM
Definitely watching this
by Plum
Oct 26th, 2006
11:14:19 AM
Funnier than Borat??
by Igouptoeleven
Oct 26th, 2006
11:48:49 AM
TOO SOON!!!!
by Bill Brasky
Oct 26th, 2006
11:52:03 AM
Good Review
by Saluki
Oct 26th, 2006
11:57:06 AM
I liked the script well enough...
by Novaman5000
Oct 26th, 2006
12:01:15 PM
I haven't seen Delirious in years...
by Novaman5000
Oct 26th, 2006
12:01:58 PM
Commercials Aren't That Good
by jimmy_009
Oct 26th, 2006
12:22:30 PM
Damn, Jimmy...
by Childe Roland
Oct 26th, 2006
12:39:06 PM
Stay was amazing. Maybe Forester's best movie.
by JackLint
Oct 26th, 2006
12:50:29 PM
I retract my opinion.
by jimmy_009
Oct 26th, 2006
01:06:13 PM
Doesn't take much for Maggie G. to be...
by El Scorcho
Oct 26th, 2006
01:30:33 PM
This flick almost feels like it was...
by vivavitalogy
Oct 26th, 2006
01:44:43 PM
First
by Cruel_Kingdom
Oct 26th, 2006
02:21:24 PM
Hate to beat a dead hose
by Fabulous Freak
Oct 26th, 2006
02:29:43 PM
And IT WROTE ITSELF!!!
by Prof. Quatermass
Oct 26th, 2006
02:46:38 PM
Stay the course!!!
by Lamerz
Oct 26th, 2006
03:03:22 PM
Oh, and the "Damn you Michael Bay" thing is...
by Lamerz
Oct 26th, 2006
03:10:10 PM
MCMLXXVI - Learn to use punctuation, bitch.
by Lamerz
Oct 26th, 2006
03:12:15 PM
Looking forward to the film
by Ragin Bully
Oct 26th, 2006
03:14:43 PM
I'm totally there.
by minderbinder
Oct 26th, 2006
03:16:47 PM
Skipping
by Cobbio
Oct 26th, 2006
05:23:25 PM
Man on the moon?
by undercat84
Oct 26th, 2006
05:29:31 PM
Borat And This Seem Like A Good Time
by The Ender
Oct 26th, 2006
07:03:56 PM
Unamuno did it
by Bongalongadingdong
Oct 26th, 2006
08:01:17 PM
hey richier= ASSHOLE.
by foreignerbelt
Oct 26th, 2006
11:09:34 PM
have to echo Quatermass
by BadMrWonka
Oct 27th, 2006
12:20:32 AM
Glad to hear it
by Zorak5
Oct 27th, 2006
02:00:00 AM
I saw it yesterday
by strangef8
Oct 27th, 2006
05:50:24 AM
Igouptoeleven
by EnemyWithin
Oct 27th, 2006
06:51:50 AM
Enemywithin
by Igouptoeleven
Oct 27th, 2006
08:14:59 AM
Alonzo Mosely stole my cigarettes!!
by DirkD13"
Oct 27th, 2006
09:13:26 AM
Damn you Michael Bay for having monster balls!
by boba_rob
Oct 27th, 2006
10:08:50 AM
Brooke Hogan is f****** HOT as hell!
by boba_rob
Oct 27th, 2006
10:09:48 AM
...key Vulcan Mind Meld music...
by Bill Brasky
Oct 27th, 2006
03:27:13 PM
Igouptoeleven
by EnemyWithin
Oct 27th, 2006
06:06:48 PM
Massawyrm...
by Nintendo Dude
Oct 28th, 2006
11:03:21 AM

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