At its worst, Stranger Than Fiction is the common and boring story of the unattractive guy being paired with the younger hot girl, and with those wonderful eyes, Maggie Gyllenhaal is hot but thankfully Stranger Than Fiction is so much more than that. It's very clever, very funny, exceptionally well-acted, has great motion graphics, is plausible, has Magritte references and has a flours joke. It also has cakes and biscuits. It's the perfect film...Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are the standouts along with Queen Latifah in her mannish clothes and Tony Hale as the space cadet.

Will Ferrell is great too. My favourite bit is when he hears the narrator say "Little did he know that this simple seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death." because I like how we both say "what?" in unison.

I like the contrast that in a novel, a happy ending is simply an "okay" compromise while that in a film of this nature, a happy ending is vital. Simply put, in a great book Harold has to die but in a great film he certainly cannot.
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After the magnificent Volver, Broken Embraces was a bit of a letdown. It was funny and full of great scenes but it was overlong and I’m also not convinced of Penelope Cruz’s acting ability. I do think Blanca Portillo is fabulous though. Her ageing was done exceptionally well but I’m afraid the younging of the man who played Ray X made him look like David Walliam’s Lou character from Little Britain.

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