Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420223/
3 of 5 stars, thumbs up
Very entertaining movie, definitely something i'd rank in the "pleasant surprise" category. Will Farrell was pretty solid in a mostly serious role. There is definite hope for him having a crossover career in the style of Jim Carrey. He'll still be a predominantly comedic actor, but he can play serious believably.
I was mostly happy to see that the Queen Latifah character was pretty understated and not as big a part as the original trailer had led me to believe. I'm was also happy that the Maggie Gyllenhaal character was believeable enough, and again not as over-the-top as the original trailer had led me to believe.
I enjoyed the script, and thought it made for a pretty unique film. I'll definitely at least look into what the next writer's project is. Zach Helm is the writer I speak of... it was his first movie.
Overall I was pretty surprised at the relative degree of sublety in the movie... the trailer had led me to believe otherwise months back.