jrwygant

This extraordinary movie takes its main character, a psychologist, all over the world in search of happiness. Most of us conduct that search at home, but travel is enjoyable. The story addresses the simple riddle: what does it take to be happy, and how do we know it when we get there. Besides being very entertaining with a great cast, this film is a bit like watching the kind of educational film we saw in high school a few decades ago. Some simple questions are not easy to answer, and often make demands on our self-image. This is a romantic story that is also humorous and is presented by realistic characters, with a strong does of humor thrown in.

First, this film had a remarkable script and a highly committed cast who walked a fine line between comedy, unpredictability, and the threat of death. My wife and I started to watch something else that got high ratings, but we gave up on that one after a long and boring opening dedicated to a reality that was not very interesting. After about 15 minutes we moved on to "Stranger Than Fiction."

We loved the very original concept of a main character whose life and death are controlled by an author's fictional writing.

This film has it all: comedy, romance, and an endless aura of tragedy waiting to end it all. It is remarkably original. I have never before read or watched anything like this story.

I am a long-time fan of Ian McShane and am pleased to see him do a fantastic job. This kind of film might have been one big cliche, but the script delved deeply into the characters' personalities. It all seemed quite real, rather than an abundance of pretense. The characters behaved as we might expect from people in critical circumstances. They show the same kind of reactions -- or deliberate non-reactions -- that we might expect from extraordinary incidents. If you can't take a slow pace, try to remember that your own daily life proceeds slowly, even if it does not involve any big issues. McShane portrays a man with a back-story that we can imagine. It all seems real.