Land of the Lost, the movie, not the TV show I used to watch way back when, opened on the weekend and reportedly bombed. In fact, it’s been called “the first bomb of summer.” Ouch. I’m partly to blame, I guess, as I didn’t go. But it’s on my list of “possibles” so if you saw it, let me know what you think.
However, if it’s any comfort to Will Ferrell, he did benefit financially from me over the weekend, because I rented the DVD of Stranger Than Fiction, a movie he did a couple of years ago with Emma Thompson. He must have made at least a penny in royalties off my rental fee…
Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS agent who starts to hear a voice narrating every action in his tedious life. Turns out he’s a character in a book being written by reclusive author Karen Eiffel (Thompson), though his figuring that out takes up a large part of the movie (the audience is clued in from the start). Bad news for Crick, he’s doomed to die at the end of the book, when he realizes that, it becomes a race against time to save his life just as it starts to get interesting.
I really enjoyed this movie, it was so different and quite unpredictable. And quite unexpected to see Ferrell as a romantic hero (in an unlikely romance with a baker played by the very cute Maggie Gyllenhaal), especially if you’re more used to his Talladega Nights-style of character. I must admit, Ferrell’s not the man I have in my head when I’m writing one of the romantic heroes in my books, but maybe I could rethink that…
Dustin Hoffman played a big part in the movie, too, and of course, he was recently paired up with Thompson in Last Chance Harvey, another movie I really enjoyed. I wonder if acting in Stranger Than Fiction together was what sparked their pairing in Last Chance Harvey?
So, did you see Land of the Lost? Love it, hate it? Got any other Will Ferrell recommendations?
Abby
www.abbygaines.com
Books on sale or free
Featured Books
THE RELUCTANT GROOM AND OTHER HISTORICAL STORIES
Enjoy historical fiction? Like short stories? Then dive into this collection of historical shorts by an award-winning author.
More info →
PICK AND CHEWS
Carrie Kennersly tries to help her veterinarian boyfriend when he’s under suspicion of murder...Is he a keeper, or should she let him go off-leash for good?
More info →
HAGAR’S LAST DANCE
By day, Jeanne Pelletier is a small-town girl toiling in obscurity at a stuffy Washington, D.C., law firm; by night, she’s Zahira, the city’s newest belly dancing sensation.
More info → UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS … AND THE LIFT IN BETWEEN
She crosses and ocean to take the holiday of her dreams at an English country estate ... where he works below stairs.
More info →
ah, well, there's no accounting for male taste…we'd all have abandoned our marriages years ago if bad taste was part of the equation 🙂
Marianne–the DH really wanted to see it (and he liked it too! Should I rethink our 27 year marriage?), so I went.
Abby–I may have liked ANCHORMAN a bit extra because I worked in TV for a bazillion years and remember the era it was set so very well.
And I agree that STRANGER THAN FICTION is an excellent pic and worth watching.
Hey Gina, admitting it is the first step to getting over it 🙂
I haven't seen ANCHORMAN, but I'll check it out.
Marianne, thanks for commenting – sounds like that movie is calling your name…
Abby
Gina, it's a good thing you did this publicly –this could have been blackmail material.
The thought that we could be subjected to a whole bunch of Sid & Marty remakes gives me cold chills.
Abby, you are the second person to recommend STRANGER THAN FICTION. I'm going to have to rent that movie.
Okay, I will admit now and publicly that I saw LAND OF THE LOST over the weekend. It was somewhere between awful and beyond awful.
I think my favorite Farrell role has to be Ron Burgundy in ANCHORMAN.