So my dad took me on a date tonight to see Stranger Than Fiction, the new Emma Thompson, Will Farrell, Dennis Hoffman movie. After it was over, I imagined the blurb I would write if I was a reviewer: "Just what the doctor ordered!" Because blurbs always end in exclamation points! !

The movie was actually pretty decent daecent. Like...not horrible, actually maybe I would go so far as to say "good" in a "if I wasn't in a deep depression, can't get the energy to do anything but sleep" kind of mood. We originally had planned to go see Flags of Our Fathers, which my dad wanted to see, but my dad called me at work today and said "I think maybe it wouldn't be the best movie for you to go see right now." Apparently some sort of word has spread around the fam that I am not in a good way. His immediate suggestion for a replacement was, surprise, Borat. I told him that wouldn't be any better. Plus I am postponing my viewing of Borat until KillaPete and IS2 come back safely and then we will all have a good laugh and then have a long pause at the end of the movie where we realize it would have been way funnier in November of 2006 to have seen it. My dad offered Babel (which I know little about other than the short review I read on NYTimes.com and thought it sounded like Syriana: The Sequel only without Matt Damon but with equal amounts of confusing, poorly-drawn out plot lines.) or Stranger than Fiction and I chose the latter.

Will Farrell is one of those people who is hilarious even brushing his teeth. His face is so closely associated with comedy that people start chuckling even when he's trying to be serious. I thought he did a great job and didn't try to overact the humorous or the serious sides of his character, Howard Crick. He definitely gives Jim Carrey a run for his money in his ability to switch back and forth in emotions. Although Carrey is a bit of a one-trick pony in some of his movies -- I thought Farrell didn't "Spartanitize" (that's my reviewer word there) his character at all. Crick was an original, fresh hero who by the end of the movie you care about, which is hard to do when the entire premise is based on Thompson's character, novel writer Karen Eiffel, trying to write a book in which she "can't find a way to kill Harold Crick." The fact that they managed to turn Harold Crick into a real person -- and fully develop him in a creep-free way -- was surprising to me. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who I thoroughly enjoyed in Mona Lisa Smile, is a great counterpart to Crick in her role as his love interest, Ana Pascal. She's not too cutesy, not too harsh -- well-balanced and well-timed. Marc Forster is the same director that did Finding Neverland, which I went to at Shirikins' suggestion with little excitement and found myself bawling at the end of the film and demanding that everyone I know go see it.

If you want some light fare that will make you feel bad you're not doing a NaNo this year, I recommend you go see it.

Gotta go to sleep so I can drag myself out to jiu jitsu in the morning.