In a very Jim Carrey like move, will Farrell went and got serious, well sort of. In an unexpected twist, it actually works. It works very well. Also, the movie itself has some very Truman show like qualities. Luckily, Will surrounded himself with Emma Thompson, a hilarious Dustin Hoffman and an incredibly likeable Maggie Gyllenhaal. And they are all wonderfully directed by Marc Forster, who takes a very different turn from Monster's Ball and finding Neverland, to direct a far out there comedy.
Harold Crick (Farrell) hears a voice and it is narrating his life. The premise is silly and to be honest the first 45 minutes are very silly. However, it is a smart, subtle silly and it is laugh out loud funny. A subdued Farrell is a very funny and likeable Farrell. Dustin Hoffman chimes in as a literary professor trying to help Crick figure out what kind of story he is involved in and in every scene Hoffman is in he soars with a funny demeanor and a great character choice. Gyllenhaal enters the picture as a potential love interest for Farrell and her first scene is hilarious and she provides a great catalyst for Farrell's character to start living his life.
About half way through the movie it stops being silly and starts to get very interesting. Aside from the concept, its a very good movie with a great underlying message: Live the life you want! See, Crick is boring and mundane. He is unhappy, but it is the only life he knows. Then he finds out he is going to die soon and BAM, he starts playing guitar and stops working. He finds an interesting life. I found a lot of it really interesting because ethere are days when I feel trapped in that ritualistic clock watching life and this movie was a nice reminder to break free of that.
I am not going to lie, as Thompson the author struggles with the ending of her book, the movie also suffers from a meandering ending and honestly perhaps the original ending of the book would have given us a better ending to the movie. Then again, perhaps that is the point of the movie anyway. I mean, we know we are watching a comedy from the beginning, so what were we, the audience expecting?
3 comments:
I was wondering if you felt like I did about the "ending of the book," especially after Hoffman's character was so adamant about it being the only viable way the book could end. Nobody wants to turn comedy to tragedy anymore, apparently, so the ending was destined to change.
so if you really hate will ferrell's normal style of movie, this is a far cry from it? cause thats really my only drawback.
Jeff- Yeah it certainly says something interesting about the idea of escapism entertainment. would we really have been better of with the original book ending, therefore an original movie ending?
Kyle- I hate the typical Will Ferrell type film. I usually don't watchy anything he is the star in, but this is a very good departure for him. He pulls it far back and it really works for him. Tink Truman show for Jim Carrey or Rushmore for Bill Murray.
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