Stranger than Fiction

I’ve never thought as much of Will Ferrell as other folks. Don’t get me wrong, I think he can be very funny but he goes in a direction that grates on me just a bit too frequently as in last year’s hit Talladega Nights. In Stranger than Fiction, though, he plays against type, no farce, no sniggers, no childish stupidity. Frankly I’d love to see the outtakes and footage from just after the director called cut as Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffman (at least) must have been laughing their asses off and there were some scenes where I expect they must have been barely able to keep a straight face.

As others have mentioned, this film shares a black, through the looking glass sensibility with movies written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) though this one, in the end, makes more sense. Maybe its a tad more conventional though writer Zach Helm certainly doesn’t much play to Hollywood cliches.

To a large degree this movie is the one which shows Will Ferrell can actually act and not just play the goof. Adam Sandler had Punch Drunk Love, Robin Williams had Dead Poet Society, Steve Martin A Simple Twist of Fate, most comic actors sooner or later try to break out of the genre from which they find their initial successes and StF, to me, is that part for Ferrell even if it is still a comedy since not once does he break out a goofy line or try to sneak in a physical gag. I really respect him for that.

Credit to director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, the Johnny Depp starrer Finding Neverland) as well for making sure we stay interested in the story of a man who, after all, is about as boring as a man could be. Harold Crick gets up in the morning, eats the same thing, counts toothbrush strokes, takes a bus to work (he’s an IRS auditor), comes home to a lonely dinner, TV and sleep. One wonders what he does on weekends! Of course having a famous author begin to narrate the guy’s life (Emma Thompson as Kay Eiffel) helps grab the audience, and Eiffel herself is having troubles too.

Throw in a delicious baker (Gyllenhaal) who somehow connects with her IRS auditor and Dustin Hoffman as a literature professor who tries to help Crick figure out what kind of story he’s in, and who happens to be an expert on Kay Eiffel, and there’s humor bursting at the seams.

definitely recommended