Stranger Than Fiction

Hmmm. I'm trying to figure out how to describe this movie. Unique. Unexpected. Bizarre. Very good. All of these describe the movie, yet somehow say nothing about it.

This is all very odd because I am NOT a literature type person. In my required literature classes, I hated having to figure out symbolism, what the author was "trying" to say and all of that stuff. I like to read a book or watch a movie for the entertainment value...period. I don't search for meaning or try to analyze it.

So I'm not analyzing this movie or looking for a "deeper meaning", but it's not the typical kind of movie I would rent. Some friends of our just got it and offered to let us borrow it. I didn't know anything about the movie other than Will Ferrell was in it and I like most of his movies (sans "Talladega Nights").

The first part of the movie had me thinking, "What a hacker" (the word we use at our house for movies that are just a waste of your time watching). But I wanted to keep watching because I didn't "get it"...what was going on. And then I thought I figured out what was happening. After that, I wanted to see what happened next. And after that, I just started getting into it. In the end, I would rate it as a great movie. I'd love to buy it and make friends sit down to watch it with me just to see how they respond.

Not being a movie or literature person, I don't have a vast database of movies to compare it to. But watching this movie, I got the same kind of feeling I did when I watched Truman Show (one of my all-time favorite movies) and The Game. I guess because I am "literature dumb", I do not understand the "deeper meaning" of these movies, but something caught my attention and drew me in. Violent WWII movies cause me to reflect and stand in awe of a generation. Action movies somehow release stress. Kid movies are OK (sans Garfield I & II) and remind me I'm glad I'm a Daddy. I'm still trying to describe how movies like Stranger Than Fiction make me feel...but I like it. Maybe I should have taken more literature classes until I "got it".

I guess most people are going to feel I am "stranger than fiction" after reading this post. I don't know. If you're a movie/literature buff, watch the movie and come talk to me. Maybe you can tell me what it is I am missing but that has somehow managed to draw me in so.