Beth Reviews...Stranger than Fiction

My best friend is a movie buff. More like raving addict, IMHO. He sees almost every movie that comes out, and is one of those guys who line up at midnight to get into the first showing of movies that he likes and/or will be really big.

Some time ago, he told me that I needed to see Stranger Than Fiction because of my writing habit. Since Jason the Boy Genius talked me into a Netflix subscription (let's just say movies are rarely on my 'to-do' list), I got Stranger Than Fiction on Friday.

And here's what I thought...

What a cool premise. A little unsettling, especially to the woman who has umpteen unfinished manuscripts at all levels of completion lying around the house, but still unique. Emma Thompson (aka Kay Eiffel) made the perfect scattered, homicidal author. The touch of Queen's English really gave her that extra boost.

I didn't know Will Ferrell was in the flick, and I'm guessing my friend didn't mention it because he knows Will movies drive me crazy (not in a good way...). However, I was actually surprised by his unusually normal performance (it's the character). I felt so sorry for him as he sat on that final bus, all day long, reading the manuscript only to find out his fate. I also wanted to know more about what kind of mother doesn't make cookies for her kids (LOL). Call it writer's instinct but I had a hunch the watch had something to do with the ending.

I also liked how well the characters were characterized by simple means. Dustin Hoffman's character and his coffee (in the urinal?! LOL). Emma and her cigarettes. Will and his numbers. When we cut narrative to the bones in our writing, we can show the same things with meaningful symbols.

All in all, a good movie. If you were expecting a Siskel & Ebert review, you're outta luck.

There were two amazing quotes in the movie that I absolutely loved. Writers will understand!

First, when Kay and Penny are sitting beside the river and Kay is envisioning the car plunging into the water as they sit in the rain (and she tries smoking):

Penny: Sitting in the rain won't write books.
Kay: Well, that illustrates how much you know about writing books.

And the second is when Kay figures out how to kill Harold. Standing by the window, she and Penny have a casual discussion about the actual death scene:

Kay: It came to me.
Penny: How?
Kay: Well, Penny, like anything worth writing, it came to me inexplicably and without method.

Absolutely true. Don't try to deny it.

If you haven't seen it and you write fiction of any type, you really should check it out. It will certainly make me think twice about killing any characters in the future...