Stranger Than Fiction (DVD, 2007)

This is one of Will Ferrell's better movies. It's not what I was expecting from Will, usually his movies are always comedic, but this one has a more serious tone to it.

It starts out with a man named Harold Crick, who is an IRS agent. He seems to be an average boring man, nothing comedic or dramatic happens to him. One day when he begins his normal regime he hears a woman narrating his life to him. He can't get rid of the voice, and doesn't know what's happening. We, the audience, knows the narrator in Harold's mind is a writer working on her latest book. The narrating is very intrusive and distracting for Harold to go about his daily life, and gets even more complicated when the narrator informs Harold about his impending death. Harold decides to go to Professor Jules Hilbert for guidance; Jules has a lot of knowledge about books and helps Harold with his new problem. It takes some convincing, though, for Jules to believe Harold in the first place. During all this confusion Harold finds a love interest in a baker named Ana Pascal.

That's the shortened version, but of course there is a lot more to this film than just that.

The cast is amazingly put together in this movie, they include: Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, and Queen Latifah.

If you are a fan of Will Ferrell then you will definitely enjoy this movie!

(For a plot synopsis, please click the link above. This review is a critique of the work, not a summary.)

Stranger than Fiction is far and away the best movie I have seen in months, possibly in the last year. I am utterly blown away. I mean, rarely do you find such a wonderful blend of humor, wit, meaning, and quiet humanity all in the same film.

As a comedy, it is wry and ironic. There is little physical comedy, and no toilet humor (not that I dislike either, but sometimes a change of pace is welcome). Though the film is clever, it is understated - a simple premise sets up the action , and from there the characters do all the work. And what wonderful characters they are!

Will Farrell is an amazingly good straightman in this film, something I never would have guessed from watching his oft over the top antics on Saturday Night Live for so many years. He plays a wonderful character with a subtle charm. Maggie Gyllenhaal (whose name I hope I spelled correctly) is wonderful as ever, and plays a character a bit more recognizable as a role you would think to see her in. Emma Thompson puts in, as usual, a very believable performance. And though her character is difficult to like at first, due only to the situation she's unwittingly put herself in, it is hard to be unimpressed with her acting. Queen Latifah, in a very serious role, is also good. So are Dustin Hoffman, and one of my favorite character actors, Tony Hale (Buster from the television series, Arrested Development).

I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. It is one of the few movies I've seen in the last few years that has truly earned its ending. It's not wrapped up in a little bow, and it does not come from nowhere and for no reason. The choices the characters make may surprise you, but it does not feel contrived; knowing the characters, as you do by the end of the film, their decisions make sense, and their motives are clear.

This is one I will watch again and again. I can't guarantee you'll enjoy it as much as I did, but I can hope.

Actually I rented this movie with a free movie rental from my local Movie Gallery. While we were trying to decide which movie to see, my eight-year-old "baby" sister, Mariah, almost threw a fit because she did not want to see another "dumb" movie. Because it was my free movie rental, I was the one who got to choose. She ended up enjoying this movie.

Will Ferrell stars as Harold Crick, a mundane IRS agent/mathematician, who "little does he know" that Karen Eiffel, a writer's-block-suffering novelist (played by Emma Thompson) is writing her latest novel about HIM, perplexed about how to kill him. Queen Latifah is a wise-cracking, smart mouth of an author's assistant sent by the publisher to help with the writer's block and novel's plot. Of course, "little do they know" that Harold Crick is an actual person. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a creative baker who Harold Crick is supposed to auditing, but ends up falling in love with him. Dustin Hoffman add a cuteness but seriousness dimension to this flick as Professor Jules Hilbert, a literary genius who is trying to help Harold Crick out of the dilemma of being killed in Eiffel's story (and thus be killed in real life).

I loved how this film taught about the inevitability of death, the simpleness and continuity of life, and choosing to live the type of life you want to live. Will Ferrell delivers an outstanding performance without his irritating, immature, annoying, and often crude humor so typical of most of his roles. (Sorry to all you Will Ferrel fans, but I usually do not like the type of characters he portrays.) Will Ferrel "grew up" in this movie. This movie has a surprize ending that will keep you guessing till the end!

Definitely a fun, different movie!

We all have our quirks, and we're all worth loving. While that is not the Grand Message of this movie, its certainly in there. \

Now, some might find this film "a little slow" - but that's because they're not really paying attention. And I guarantee, if you pay a little bit to this gem the payback is awesome!

The not-giving-anything-hugely-imp​ortant-away-premise is: Harold Crick (Ferrell) is a lonely-but-self-respecting IRS auditor who realizes that an articulate English woman's voice is narrating his every move from inside his head. You see, Harold is a bit of an odd duck, too, and he compulsively counts and measures things in the background chatter of his actually creative mind. This is brilliantly illustrated in the movie through sophisticated computer graphics superimposed over the action while Harold moves through space, and for as long as he bothers to mildly preoccupy himself with such trivia - its a refreshing homage to compulsivity like this.

Along the way, he meets a radical baker (Maggie Gyllenhaal at her best) who he "unprofessionally" falls for. But she doesn't want to have anything to do with him...and besides, he's got to get rid of the English woman (Emma Thompson) first!

Superbly directed by Marc Forster (the brilliant director of "Finding Neverland" and the largely unseen masterpiece "Stay") there are some great actors in the smaller roles: Dustin Hoffmann, Queen Latifah (as a dead-serious publisher's "hit-man") and cameos by other greats like Tom "Amadeus" Hulce and Linda Hunt).

If you previously dismissed this as "another dumb Will Ferrell comedy" - you've got a pleasant surprise waiting for you.

I LOVED this movie:)! I LOVE it so much that I went as far to buy several more copies of it and mail it to my friends and family with some orvele redenbacher POP-corn,lol! [please forgive my spelling along the way; I don't do it very well:) ] And now, I have ordered a copy of the screen play. I watch this movie at least once a day since I got it. I can still learn from it.

This movie is all about the actual writer and writing: Parallels; Emma Thomson's character: 'Karen Eifel' and Harold's [played by Will Ferrel] 'wristwatch' And the mental and emotional journey of a WRITER [One may learn the pieces/parts/intricacies of the 'pen'-A writing course that I would enjoy enrolling in and again for refreshers]. In this case, the writer is almost suicidal[but 'life change' is a death of sorts..]; she writes 'tragedies,' where the HERO always dies. The writer is a perfectionist with OCD tendencies. In the story, Karen Eifel tells her assistant, 'Penny Esher,' [played by 'Queen Latefa'] about a "beautifully depressing book," Where a woman, who, after falling to her 'death' had an 'face of an angel; Karen states she believes it's because "she could fell the wind against her face.." as she plunged to her death. Then the narator narates that Harolds' 'watch' 'loved to feel the wind against it's [face'] as Harold ran to catch the bus.

I especially liked the part where ['Penny'-for-your-thoughts 'Esher' [creative construct] 'assisant,' let's-the-character 'IN'[very symbolic] to face her decision of Tragedy [death/suiside];
And then Harold after 'reading' THE MANUSCRIPT; 'Validates' herself [more symbolisim:) ] And it is the 'WATCH'[writer/Karen Eifel] who saves Harold's life; The writer chooses LIFE!

Each character is skillfully portrayed by an amazing cast; each actted as brilliantly as the the mastery and BRILLIENCE of the author/screen play writers', writing!

The romance between, HAROLD and ANA PASQUEL [her charater is the nurturant/creative 'baker'] [Played by Gylinhal,sp!lol..] is lovely and healing.

The words; music; cinematograpy all fit/match somewhere; nothing is wasted. I am truely INSPIRED! I cry/laugh at this brilliant comedy-tragedy-romance-teacher​:)

I was driving one afternoon crying; wondering if I had done anything of signifigance in my life; my self-talk went down a list of the 'little' things I had done for other people, a lot of them, but I could not say that I had been 'Mother Teresa!' And then I found this Movie: 'STRANGER THAN FICTION' BY, ZACH HELM.

This movie [it's writer's] suggest that: 'OKAY' is good enough [we don't have to be Gandy]; that we affect others in our small gestures [these can be life savors]; doesn't have to be 'grand.'
And 'we'/our lives; Are and are not controlled by fate [GOD] 'we' have free choice, and can 'write' with our self-talk a new way of being....GACHETTDUO

As a child I had a favorite book, entittled: HAROLD and THE PURPLE CRAYON. And now as an adult [with my inner child..:) ] I now have: HAROLD and HIS WRISTWATCH, a.k.a, STRANGER THAN FICTION!

'LISTEN' to every word...the artist/writer puts each word in 'it's place' and for a purpose!

If you would like to have further discussion you may email me at: gachettduo@charter.net ...peace out!:)