★★★ Stranger Than Fiction

[Twinkletoes: 2.5, Gino: 3.0, Twoshoes: 3.0]

Twinkletoes says: 'I know we're not talking about the real world with this film but I just had a hard time accepting the internal logic of having the Dustin Hoffman character. It seems unreasonably absurd that a man hearing voices would seek out the help of a literature professor. Too many things in this film seemed to be artificial plot devices designed to get from point A to point B. Still I enjoyed Will Ferrell. Overall a great idea for a film that for some reason just didn't totally work for me.'

Gino says: 'I think I can tell you the reason it doesn't entirely work: it falls in some uncanny valley between realism and fantasy. The entire premise is wacky, of course. (I half expected to see Dudley Moore replace Will Farrel here.) This would have been a much better film if it was made totally clear that both the writer and the protagonist were insane, one hearing the narration, one believing that her literary creation was real. That would have pushed it out of the uncanny valley towards the realism side [a la A Beautiful Mind]. Or they could have gone the other way towards fantasy: The closest parallel I can think offhand to this film is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and yet that film works much better because you are lead to relinquish your hold on the real world. Stranger Than Fiction is played totally straight, and so you don't really know how to feel.

All this said, it remains enjoyable due to its cast.'