Stranger Than Fiction

I didn't have any expectations about this movie, so it was a nice surprise. Four friends end up with having to dispose of a body and things turn nasty. The acting is not exactly brilliant but you can live with that. It starts of as sort of a black comedy, well that is the best way I can describe it, and it takes all kinds of twists and turns towards the end. It's just good solid entertainment. If you like this one I would also recommend Shallow Grave (1995).

This movie is about mob behavior in a mob of only four.Very original movie about four friends who move from situation to situation with a murder being the solution. Of course the situations are contrived but isn't "tongue in cheek" always so. Still very much worth watching for its originality and acting.

For the first hour and fifteen minutes of this film I kept thinking, "Wow, what a gem! I am so glad I found this movie." The movie was unexpectedly funny, the situation engaging and the director was skilled at creating a consistent tone for this black comedy. At around the hour-and-fifteen-minute point the plot seemed to come to a close and I was ready for the credits to roll. However at that point the movie took an infuriating turn. Not only did it completely change in tone - from comedy to high drama - but it introduced plot elements that, without being specific, negated much of what I had just seen.

Plot aside, why a movie's creators would want a film to be so funny for the first two acts and so deliberately unfunny for the third act is bewildering to me.

If movie sets up at the outset that it is a mystery, and then does something really twisty at the end you can enjoy it. But the movie did not prepare me for how it resolved and so I felt cheated out of a great comedy. "No Way Out" with Kevin Costner does a similar thing in the last one minute of the film. My recommendation is that you watch this for the first two third and then hit the stop button.

You will have a great time.

I rented this because it seemed original and had a potentially good story. I wasn't sure what the story really was all about, but I was in a rush, and needed something quick.

Maybe I should have slowed down a bit....

First, my customary plot summary. (Past reviews of mine usually follow the same format. Not like you care, but that doesn't matter. You've read my comment and now you can't unread it....I'm sorry, I'm drifting.) Anyhow!! The story starts in an airport bar with an author talking with a man next to him. They start talking about his writing, and his recent book, "Stranger Than Fiction." Then he starts to delve into the story, which is, basically, about four twenty-somethings that get involved in a murder, and the perilous downward spiral their lives go in as an effect. It goes deeper than that, much deeper, but I'll spare you all the details, only because I rambled enough before and am catching myself doing it again.

As for my reactions...Well, the movie didn't thrill me. First of all, it was way too long for such a plotline. And as for the plotline...well, I couldn't figure out at all where this movie was going! It starts as a "thrust into treachery" sort of tale, but then it starts to get funny. Some of the humor is appropriate, but if this isn't a comedy...then it didn't fit. But then, it gets into this thriller-comedy-drama thing, and really gets confusing. By then, I was starting to get tired and figured the end was near. But then it gets twisted, then dramatic--then goes into this Part Two that seemed totally tacked on! It was almost like the "Part Two" seemed to be one of a few choices to be the last 30% of the movie. I don't know, it was just getting too contrived then, and sort of tense, but by then, I gave up on this one. There are a few good things. Good acting, effective music, an obvious-yet-not twist in the end (though, the cast list gives it away a little bit) and the way the movie would go into the alternate, film-negative sort of look was creative. But didn't save this messy film.

Check it out for originality, but I hate to say that it really isn't that good. So, you be the judge.

The story is entertaining although the movie is not very strong. Probably due to lack of experience it misses something. Strong acting for one thing. But the thing that bothered me the most is that they didn't try to make an ongoing story of it. Some things aren't explained in the movie itself but by a narrator who has to tie some loose ends together in the end to finish the story That is what i think is very cheap and non professional.

This movie gave me the impression that they had a four hour television series and tried to cut into 100 minutes to make a movie out of it. They failed!

But after all these negative things it is time to name some good sides. The twists are very nice and also the reaction of the different characters when they get deeper in deeper in the sh*t. And it is not some standard Hollywood action movie you have seen millions of times before.

rating: 3 out of 5