A Will Ferrell movie I liked!

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2008)

I kept being intrigued by the ads of someone narrating over a person's life. I adore Emma Thompson. But I could not bring myself to pay to see it in the theaters because it had Will Ferrell so I assumed it would be some sort of sophomoric and puerile comedy.
Yet the previews had so intrigued me, I decided to rent it.
I was pleasantly surprised to find it was not a brainless comedy and that I enjoyed it. I actually enjoyed Will Ferrell's acting. The movie wasn't perfect, but the acting was excellent, it kept me guessing, it was amusing and even the cynic in me was touched by his gift. In all it was interesting and amusing and worth a watch.
I especially enjoyed the scenes where the literary professor tried to figure out the story (as the audience was). I did wonder whether Dustin Hoffman's repeated questioning about counting items was a purposeful (or was I over-reading?) reference to his autistic counting character in Rainman.