Imminent Death...and Taxes

(Edit: Lucky Bob reviewed this movie, like, over a week ago. I totally missed his post! But danggit, I already wrote this so you might as well read it! Ha.)

Tonight I went to see the movie Stranger Than Fiction, and loved it. It was unique, suprisingly well-acted, and universally themed. In a nutshell, this is a movie about a man who wakes one morning and hears his life narrated. He responds in the normal fashion to voices in the head until the voice announces his "imminent death"-- then he gets a bit worried.

The elements that created, added and otherwise spiced this film included some very well thought-out characters, interesting visual effects that support the main character's obsession with numbers, and a lovely unlikely pairing. There's a crazy author, some suprise scenes and twists, and Dustin Hoffman. Will Ferrell's plays the main character, a IRS man named Howard.

There's a scene between Will Ferrell and Dustin Hoffman's characters where "imminent death" is discussed, "everyone dies" says Hoffman. The stages are there: denial, anger, bargining, depression and acceptance. It's a dying man hearing there's no cure for the cancer. It's everyman's imagined conversation with the doctor. I teared up-- hearing my own voice in my own head saying, "yeah, but, isn't there anything you can DO?" It's heart-breaking.

There's another scene where Howard eats a cookie. He closes his eyes-- you can see it is the best most wonderful thing he's eaten in a long time-- maybe the best thing he's ever eaten in his life. There's enough of these types of scenes to merit sighs of contentment. There's funny moments thrown in for, well, fun. "I brought you flours". LOL.

The ending is interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about it. You should go see it-- then call me because this is one that you'll want to discuss. Truely the best and most clever movie I've seen since Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. Maybe a tad more simple, and in some ways, more warm. Enjoy.