Stranger Than Fiction is the Will Ferrell movie that's not a Will Ferrell movie, or at least not a typical Will Ferrell movie. In this one he plays a very dry, very low key IRS agent who starts to hear the voice of a woman who seems to be narrating his life story. As the picture unfolds he learns that the story of his life is about to end with his impending death, and that his story is still being written at the same time by an author (Emma Thompson) who is suffering from writers block. The story sounds completely wacky, I know, but it works and it never gets to the point of confusion or trying to out think the audience.
What I like the most about Stranger is the focus of its concept and the performances by all the actors. Will Ferrell is really surprising and "charming" in this one. He reminded me a lot of a low key Jim Carey in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", but with more relatable qualities. In fact I found him almost too relatable in his bumbling, antisocial way. I was also impressed with Maggie Gyllenhaal who plays a cookie shop owner whom Ferrell falls in love with. The two look like they were made for each other about as well as oil and water, but again, it works and they have some really nice "warm" scenes together. If you like movies like the mentioned Eternal, or Adaptation, or Being John Malkovich, Stranger Than Fiction should be right up your alley.
Fahrenheit 451 on the other hand is an adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story about a future society where the owning and reading of books is illegal and a group called "The Firemen" are tasked with the job of investigating and raiding anyone's home that they feel might contain them. The story follows one of the Firemen as he learns what it is that draws the people who own books to them, and in the end joins their cause.
What I liked about this one was also the concept, it wasn't carried out with as much affect as Stranger, but it has some pretty clever twists along the way. The opening credits of most movies are text, but in 451 there is no text at all, the credits are given via audio. As if the film had its text removed by the Firemen, just like the rest of the film. Then as the books are introduced, so to is text to the film. There is also an eerie quality about a 40 year old movie predicting the future and coming pretty close in some instances (flat panel televisions, increased security concerns, censorship). It also has one of the singular best final scenes of any movie...ever. I wouldn't want to ruin it, but it has to do with "The Book People" and if you're a fan of actually reading *gulp* books, you should really love the finale.
Also, ~Julie Christie~, in her day, was a stone cold FOX!
In the end I found Stranger Than Fiction to ultimately be the better of the two, both films have affective "outside the box" concepts, but I felt Fahrenheit 451 had just a little too many big ideas with no real glue to stick it all together. There are still a couple of things that it touched on, but never revisited (like Montag's creepy co-worker popping up EVERYWHERE) and I just felt that Stranger than Fiction was a more focused, more accessible, and more relatable picture.
Both above average, and both worth a rental, but Stanger wins the race.