Best movie I've ever seen?
You'd think every good movie ought to leave that impression in the immediate afterglow, yet that's not quite the case. The best counterexample I can think of is any Christopher Guest movie. They're all well worth your time to watch, superbly put together, immensely enjoyable, yet by a week later it won't be terribly relevant that you saw it.
Not that a movie needs lasting impact to be good, in fact I think some of the worst movies ever made (quick crash course for new readers: the two worst movies ever made are in fact Magnolia and Donnie Darko, and it's not even close) are painfully obviously shooting for that. But still.
We can cop out and say this is the best movie I've ever seen not involving Bill Murray, Harry Potter, J.R.R. Tolkien, or Steve Martin. I'll have to sleep on whether that's still true, or which of those modifiers one can get rid of (apples and oranges, really). Oh, or Christopher Guest.
With apologies to Woody Allen, if he's ever made a better movie than Stranger Than Fiction, I haven't seen it and it (unlike other Woody Allen movies) certainly hasn't gotten the hype. In fact Woody Allen did make Melinda & Melinda, the other work-of-fiction-within-a-movie "is it comedy or tragedy?" involving Will Farrell. That wasn't nearly as good as this, if only because ever scene with those pompous asses sitting at the table talking (the overarching conceit of the movie) was a waste of our time.
Posted by Matt Bruce at February 2, 2007 12:15 AMGood, good, good... beginning to think I was the only one that adored this movie. Of course, it hit pretty close to home for me.
--Nate
Posted by: Nate at February 2, 2007 03:27 AMI thought it was pretty great too, even though some parts of the plot were kinda weak.
Posted by: David at February 3, 2007 01:28 PM