Stranger Than Fiction

We have always had a preference for arty/indie movies. At least in principle. One of our mini-vacations each year is to the Wisconsin Film Festival- last year we saw nine movies in four days.

But certain life circumstances seem to affect us as movie-goers, and our once capacious appetite for indie cinema is replaced by the simple desire to see a relatively good movie, lightly entertaining, while eating a large bucket of popcorn.

Last night we watched Stranger Than Fiction at the theatre. It was really quite good. Some great acting, especially Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. Maggie and Will were cute together as well.

As we were driving home from the movie, after we got done discussing the pop philosophical implications of life created by art/art influencing life, we suddenly realized that throughout the movie, there were veiled references to past Dustin Hoffman movies. So, for example, Hoffman, who is an English professor, has a small side job as the faculty lifeguard (The Graduate). He asks Will Ferrell why he counted all the tiles on the bathroom floor (Rain Man). He tells Ferrell that he has to die, because that's the way it is in a tragedy, the hero dies but the art lives on forever (Death of a Salesman). He's eating and drinking coffee all the time, which is probably another movie. Anyway, feel free to play the game with me. How many references to Dustin Hoffman movies are there in Stranger Than Fiction ?