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Much was written about Will Ferrell's first "dramatic role" as Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who begins hearing a voice narrating his life. ButStranger Than Fictionis hardly a drama. However, what Ferrell does--like Jim Carrey before him inThe Truman Show--is handle a toned-down character with genuineness and affection: you believe he is this guy. Crick leads a lonely life filled with numbers and routines. While at first he considers the voice a nuisance, Crick decides more action is needed when it speaks of "his demise." Enter Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who takes on the absurd notion with revelry, trying to find out what kind of book Crick's life is leading. It turns out that the voice Crick is hearing belongs to Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson), a very real--and troubled--author who is writing a book in which Crick is a fictional character. As usual with these things, the stuffed shirt learns to live a better life--Crick even falls for one of his audits, a brash baker named Ana (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Marc Foster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) has the right tone for the film, using great urban scenes (the unnamed city is Chicago) with interesting visualizations of Crick's world of numbers. He also directs Ferrell, Hoffman, and Gyllenhaal to their most charming performances (plus Linda Hunt and Tom Hulce pop up in two funny scenes). Ferrell succeeds in being a romantic lead you can root for; a scene where he eats Ana's freshly baked cookies is totally delightful without a hint of sarcasm. Screenwriter Zach Helm has two personal traits with his story: like Crick he followed his heart (he stopped rewriting scripts and only worked on his own) and like Eiffel, the final results are not a masterpiece, but good, and entertaining enough. Britt Daniel of the band Spoon worked on the dynamite soundtrack.--Doug Thomas
Extras fromStranger Than Fiction
"Counting Brush Strokes," A featurette on the filming ofStranger Than Fictionhigh bandwidth
Tax Man!:
A clip from the film high bandwidth
Queen Latifah on working with Emma Thompson high bandwidth
Stills fromStranger Than Fiction(click for larger image)
Who Said That?! Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) lives a boring life. He has no friends or social life. He works as an auditor for the IRS. He's so boring that he counts the number of times he brushes his teeth in the morning and the number of steps he takes.
All that changes one Wednesday. When he wakes up that morning, he hears a voice narrating his every action. Of course, this creeps him out, and his co-workers begin to notice his odd behavior. But things get even worse on his way home from work when the voice predicts his imminent death.
Harold doesn't relish that idea, so he begins to look for help with his problem. Eventually, he comes in contact with English professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who tries to help him figure out what to do from a literary standpoint.
Meanwhile, famed novelist Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson) is trying to figure out how to end her latest book, DEATH AND TAXES. She's got everything except how to kill off her main character, Harold Crick.
As far as I can remember, I've only seen one other Will Ferrell movie. Most of the previews look too over the top for my taste. This one intrigued me, however, so I set aside my prejudices and went to see it. I'm glad I did.
To be honest, I expected a funnier movie. This isn't Ferrell's normal over the top gag fest. It is funny, and I laughed through most of it. Just not as often as I thought I would.
That's because there's an underlying pathos to the story. Facing death, Harold realizes that he's never really lived. This gives him the boldness to go for some things he's always wanted to do and make some friends. The performances by the entire cast wonderfully walk the balance between the comedy and the more elements of the film.
Yeah, there were scenes that could have been funnier, but I like the final product. It's a great mix of comedy and drama that kept me entertained for the full two hours.
Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go hang out with my friends.
a strange yet quite common story this movie is one of the best performed, directed, edited movies that i've viewed recently. the only thing that i don't quite get is the fiction in this movie, it actually sucks big time. because no matter what, how could it be possibly great to end the main fictitious character's life died like a hero consciously or to let him live happily ever after also consciously, the fiction itself is nothing but a mediocre novel. a real life person coincidentally synchronized with a fictitious character in a novel (a complete narrative one?) is not a bad idea at all, but from what i've sensed from this movie itself, that fiction obviously was not good at all, albeit great in any prospect. what great was the movie itself. will ferrell has transcended himself from a exaggerating comedian actor to a mature, deep, and greater actor in this movie. his performance was right on the money, just right, not more, not less, just fine. a high five for him. and i'll move him up and into my A list absolutely-worth-watch actors from now on.Brilliant Script, Superb Direction, Best Ensemble Cast Performance: Why no Oscars? STRANGER THAN FICTION is one of the more wise, conceptually stunning, finely executed original films to come to the screen in a long time. How this little gem of a film went unnoticed by the Academy is anyone's guess, but viewers' alert: spend an evening viewing this film and new standards for excellence will be set for you.
Director Marc Forster ('Finding Neverland', 'Monster's Ball', 'Stay', 'Everything Put Together') is a director of vision, a man unafraid to tackle testy topics, and a genius at pacing a film with a keen collaborative eye with his cinematographer, his editor, his set designer, his casting director, and his actors. Taking the chance of working with first time writer Zach Helm (a gifted artist whose niche in the business is already secure with this first venture) and assembling a cast of some of our finest actors proves successful in every graphically odd twist and turn of this unusual, compelling and unclassifiable story.
Harold Crick (Will Ferrell - finally given a role in which he can prove that he is an actor and not just a foolish pratfall comedian) is a boring, number obsessed IRS agent whose every moment of every day is timed to be exactly the same (with the important co-existence with his wrist watch!)...until one day he hears a voice narrating his life, the female voice of loopy and blocked writer Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson) who is writing a story that has a 'Harold Crick' as her main character. Only our boring IRS agent can hear her voice: his loony office friend Dave (Tony Hale) empathizes but can do little else to help him. When the narrator begins to talk about ending 'Harold's' life, Harold freaks and seeks guidance from a literature professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman, in one of his most subtle and refined roles of his career) who knows Eiffel's work and aids Harold in understanding novels, be they comedy or tragedy. Harold also seeks the advice of psychiatrist Dr. Mittag-Leffler (the always superb Linda Hunt) who is of little help, and Dr. Cayly (Tom Hulce) who repairs all upsets with hugs.
Meanwhile in his work of auditing citizens he encounters anti-government baker Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal, once again proving that she is one of the most formidable talents in film today), and a bizarre but tender attraction slowly ensues. And all this time novelist Kay Eiffel is struggling with how to 'kill Harold' so that she can complete her novel. Her publisher sends in 'assistant' Penny Escher (Queen Latifah) to ground her and guide her to her novel's completion by helping her observe hospital disasters, vantages, and steadying her grip on life.
The manner in which the novel is finished which involves the ultimate fate of Harold and the changes the narration of the novel have had on his life makes up the resolution of the story. And a cleverly written conclusion it is. Zach Helm is obviously a brilliant, well-informed writer who knows how to balance comedy and tragedy, crises of life with the little things that count, and can mold conversations so subtle that they beg to be rewound to enjoy the words repeatedly. Forster wisely uses graphic superimpositions of numbers and graphs and lines to show us the inside of Harold's intriguing mind, all the while allowing us to draw close to the needy and tender aspect of this nerd of nerds, thus making the involvement with his narrator, his girlfriend Ana, and his doctors and professor wholly credible.
Some people (this viewer being one) avoided this film in the theaters because of the fear that it may be just another Will Ferrell bit of foolishness: over the top slapstick physical comedy that grows stale after about five minutes. But Will Ferrell here opens an important new door for his career: he can act! The ensemble cast could not be improved upon and it is refreshing to see the widely disparate types of actors gathered here work as a cohesive and impeccable unit. Added to the DVD is about an hour's worth of featurettes that are, for once, brilliantly informative and well worth viewing to enhance the film just experienced. Bravo to the entire cast and crew of this little masterwork! Grady Harp, March 07
