Stranger than Fiction

analysis
#1

Just watched Stranger Than Fiction this weekend hoping the premise was setting up a nice complete story (shoulda searched https://narrativefirst.com/analysis/stranger-than-fiction/
first!). It was, at best, a tale.

  1. I couldn’t stand the scenes where Dustin Hoffman’s character-a literary professor-was trying to tell Will Ferrell’s character about Story. If any movie ever needed a remake, it would be this movie, but only if made by people who know Dramatica!

  2. The statement the tale made seemed oddly meta. The author that’s writing Harolds story decides to cop out at the end of her book. Dustin Hoffman’s character tells her that the book is good. Good but not great. She says that’s good enough. And it pretty much described the movie itself. By having two major players that both seemingly have major changes-among other storyform issues-the movie is entertaining. It’s good. Good but not great. And it seems the movie was saying that’s good enough. Unfortunately for the movie, I just don’t accept that statement.

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#2

Well, there’s your mistake, you watched a Will Ferrell movie. Don’t do that, problem solved. :stuck_out_tongue:

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#3

I wish I coulda warned you about that!

I love the movie, mainly because it isn’t complete story. The resulting lighter touch and contingent nature from deriving one’s personal meaning make it a literary beauty to me.

#4

Haha. I mostly agree. But this wasn’t a Will Ferrell movie, just a movie that has Will Ferrell in it.

Also, The Elf is a yearly watch, so…:man_shrugging: