Stranger Than Fiction
#8 in my 2007 movie challenge was Stranger Than Fiction, which I saw at a discount theater. Good: ticket only cost $2, and they have good popcorn with real butter. Bad: film was mis-framed to start (could see the boom mike at the top of the screen), then out of focus throughout. I enjoyed the film anyway. Ferrell was funny, vulnerable and sweet as a boring IRS agent who suddenly starts hearing someone narrate his life. Maggie Gyllenhaal was charming, Emma Thompson was believably weird as the author, Tony Hale (Buster from Arrested Development) was ideal as a geeky friend, and Dustin Hoffman was kookily engaging as a literature professor. Only Queen Latifah seemed to be superfluous to the endeavor.