Stranger than Fiction

Like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, Will Ferrell deserved far more popular acclaim for his dramatic turn in Stranger than Fiction. Its excellent magical realism premise would have been enough to make for a promising film, but what Ferrell does here is wondrous he crafts a character who is uniquely humble, reserved and average. Roger Ebert described the film as being about quiet, sweet, worthy people, and that is quite accurate. Its a film that has an unexpected reserve of dignity, and its central romance between Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal is seemingly mismatched but all the more genuine for it. Their first kiss is one of my favorite romantic film moments totally vulnerable and adorable.