Stranger Than Fiction 2006

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Stranger Than Fiction may not be the typical crowd-pleaser, but it's a sweet, funny, intelligent film that showcases just how much Ferrell can do, even when he's doing less. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Stranger Than Fiction is both about a novel and like a novel; you eagerly await the turning of the pages. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The deader the deadpan the better. When Ferrell and Hoffman do their thing together, a charming bit of whimsy becomes something more. It becomes really, really funny. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: A film well worth seeing and savoring. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: For all of the film's narrative intricacies, it's love in bloom that carries the day. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Crisp, eccentric and exhilarating. Read more

Hap Erstein, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Stranger Than Fiction is the most original comedy of the year, a mind-bending tale with one foot in the real world and the other in pure fiction. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: [Stranger Than Fiction] springs to life whenever it drops the cute Pirandello-like premise and focuses on the simple business of Ferrell finding love. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: If Stranger Than Fiction has a central flaw, it's overly sentimental. Although the story would work better as a tragedy, Forster and Helm can't resist tacking on a mushy love story, involving Crick and combative tax cheat Ana Pascal. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Stranger Than Fiction is uptight. [Writer Zach] Helm is clearly pro-love and happy endings, but he's short on loose, fresh ideas. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: It manages to be smart and surprising and provides this season of serious movies with a much-needed shot of whimsy. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Stranger Than Fiction might be film, but it moves like a novel: a literate, unhurried tale marked by softly wrought reflections on the self-made life. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Movies with terrific ideas are a rare commodity in Hollywood. The idea behind Stranger Than Fiction is the kind of Charlie Kaufmanesque conceit that sounds a lot better than the way it's played out. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Will Ferrell delivers a moving and surprisingly delicate -- though not so surprisingly funny -- turn as the lonesome bureaucrat bedeviled by a voice only he hears. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A wondrously funny modern fairy tale, Stranger than Fiction manages to blend romance, satire and fantasy into a story that's both fully satisfying and patently absurd. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: There's no denying the movie has a surface allure. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: A comedy that takes itself too seriously to be truly enjoyed. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Yes, Stranger Than Fiction is a head trip. But it's a very friendly one, and well crafted at that. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: [Stranger than Fiction] teems with ideas both literary and existential, which might make it unbearably precious, were it not redeemed by woozy charm and some serious acting from Will Ferrell. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Sometimes I think movies like Stranger Than Fiction don't experiment with narrative and character as much as cop out on them. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: It seems like the screenwriter may have suffered a shortage of ideas and remedied the problem by watching Charlie Kaufman films. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: 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. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: It has a nifty premise and outstanding performances from Ferrell, as the protagonist-in-progress, and Emma Thompson, as his blocked creator. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Willfully eccentric, odd in tone, it is an English major's comedy, a wry exploration of plot, narrative, character and a writer's imprint on her or his work. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It takes a great premise and runs with it, neither wasting opportunities nor going off on tangents. It features strong work from both the main and supporting actors, and manages seamlessly to incorporate both humor and poignancy. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Stranger Than Fiction is a meditation on life, art and romance, and on the kinds of responsibility we have. Such an uncommonly intelligent film does not often get made. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This is a Ferrell you've never seen before, nailing a role that calls for breakneck humor in the final race against the clock and touching gravity in the love scenes with Gyllenhaal. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The picture is an overworked trifle: There's so much going on in it that it becomes hard to care about anything that's going on in it. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It doesn't coast on its premise but follows where it leads, which is into some serious territory. What might have been a joke with a tagged-on sentimental ending becomes instead a sensitive movie that affirms the value of life. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Stranger Than Fiction is no Eternal Sunshine. But if you can look past its clunky attempt to be exactly that, there's great pleasure in watching Ferrell, like Harold, turn into someone you never knew he could be. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: So, in lieu of the usual cookie-cutter movie, we at least get the cookie itself, a nice-light treat. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Stranger Than Fiction seems like an old episode of the Twilight Zone, and the idea would have worked better as one of Rod Serling's half-hour epistles on human foibles. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The movie is clever, but a little too pleased with its own clockwork intricacy. Read more

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

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: An uncommonly plastic bit of Hallmark sentiment-mongering, with exactly the kind of New Age psychobabble ending youa(TM)d expect. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Besides being inventive and witty, Stranger Than Fiction is a tribute to the power of literature. But art is not its only domain. It also delves into the world of ultimate certainties: death and taxes. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: It remains inventive and funny to the end, features fine performances from Will Ferrell and especially Emma Thompson, and offers enough to enjoy and dispute to make it a good B.O. attraction. Read more

Jim Ridley, Village Voice: [The] performances succeed where Harold fails: gaining a life independent of their author. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: It's not the original story we signed up for -- or thought we did. Read more