Stranger Than Fiction (2006) User Reviews

Never underestimate the genuine appeal of reality

[ElMaruecan82 · 9/10 · 24 March 2016]

What an imaginative and touching story! Marc Forster's "Stranger Than Fiction", written by Zach Snyder, is a movie that could have failed in so many aspects despite its creative premise, yet the story confidently moved forward, punctuated by clever, poignant and thought-stirring twists.

And Will Ferrell's performance is integral to the film's success because he plays a nuanced and extremely restrained character who contradicts the very comical premise of the film, as soon as we think this is going to be a fantasy-farce. This is even more pleasantly surprising as Ferrell is like the Bill Murray of his generation, a SNL alumni used to madcap comedies where he plays eccentric and one-liners-throwing characters. Here, he is Harold Crick, a meek and discreet IRS agent who lives under a steady routine guided by an electronic wristwatch.

The opening voice-over narration insists that nothing special ever happened to Harold Crick... for the simple reason that he's the one controlling his life and saw no reason whatsoever to make this change. He's no Truman Burbank or "Fight Club" Narrator; he likes the minimalist scope he gave to his life for twelve years (from his Spartan house to his by-the-book ethics). But who said we've got to make our own existential crisis? One day, a voice starts narrating Crick's thought as he's brushing his teeth, there's something literary in the disembodied (female) voice he hears, Cricks stops brushing his teeth, starts again, and then the voice describes his feeling at that point. We get it, it's the story of a character who hears the narrator, and this premise is exciting enough.

But there are reasons I mentioned Bill Murray or Jim Carrey in this review, "Stranger Than Fiction" feels like one of these clever concept movies ("Groundhog Day" or "The Truman Show") but Ferrell plays the protagonist differently than Bill Murray as Phil Connors, and even Jim Carrey managed to be comical at times like giving a wink to the audience who needed at least one funny grin. Ferrell doesn't surrender to comedy no matter how comedic his situation gets, he plays his character as if something serious, like an illness, was happening. And this is a revelation, a proof that any actor, given the right story and direction, can go beyond the preconceived limits of his acting range. Adam Sandler gave me a similar impression in "Click" but the film wasn't as consistently good.

"Stranger Than Fiction" never takes its originality for granted. The narration is only the starting point, we only hear it during crucial times, and it starts being a problem when the narrator is revealed to be omniscient, and explains that a simple act Crick just committed will lead to his imminent death. It is not the word 'death' that provokes a sudden outburst of angst, but 'imminent', tragedy material. When a voice that knows everything about you or your most hidden thoughts tells you that you're going to die, well, even the most Cartesian and sensible man will be likely to believe it.

Crick goes to a psychiatrist played by Linda Hunt, she diagnoses a case of schizophrenia but suggests him to ask a literature professor. Within the twisted premise of the story, this is implacably logical, so Crick goes to Pr. Hilbert, played by Dustin Hoffman. Detached and rational, Hilbert gives him homework. Crick must determine whether he is a comedic or tragic character, one that is governed by the continuity of life or the inevitability of death. Crick must test whether he controls his storyline (or not, like a tragic character) and then tries to do whatever he wants, if his death is so inevitable. At that point, we already forgot about the narrator, and the film gets closer in themes and tone to Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's masterpieces.

Indeed, "Stranger Than Fiction" made me realize why self-referential movies are so fascinating, they have something inherently human behind entertaining plots. And the core of the story is the sweet romance between Crick and a free-spirited tattooed tax-rebel baker played by Maggie Gylenhall. When he starts auditing her, you feel the attraction, but he can't reach her heart because he's stuck up to his job, and it takes time for him to finally allow her to reach him. The chemistry feels real as there's something authentic in their performances, Ana loves what she does, and Harold, governed by the necessity to give a meaning to his seemingly meaningless life, starts doing what he loves: playing guitar, developing friendship, pleasing himself.

Ultimately, Ana falls in love with him and Crick thinks he might be in a comedy, until he finally sees the face behind the voice, it's author Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) who seems to be the one pulling the strings. The trick is that she always kills off her lead characters, and the trickiest part is that Crick's life is only depending on whether she decides to kill him off or not. She shares her mental block with her editor's employee (Queen Latifah) wondering about the perfect way to kill Crick, until she realizes that he exists. The film escalates to the level of mind-bending genius (a word that has been so overused for the likes of "Inception") when she gives Crick the manuscript. Hilbert reads it and considers it a masterpiece with his death being part of that greatness. And Crick reads it and agrees.

It all comes down to a simple question: should one die just because it makes a terrific ending? This is one of the greatest narrative tricks ever pulled on screen and an existential lesson. Crick gave his meaningless life a meaning (wasn't he laughing at "The Meaning of Life" in the theater?). Maybe life can be less flashy than its dramatized version, yet as 'disappointing' as the ending was story-wise, it was deeply moving and touching in the way we connected it to our reality… and a little bit to fiction.

Helm's great screenplay and Ferrell's astonishing acting make for an excellent film

[DonFishies · 9/10 · 10 November 2006]

I liked the idea of Stranger than Fiction from the start. And I still like the idea after having seen the film. I was not a big fan of all the huge press first-time screenwriter Zach Helm was getting, but in comparison to the ballooning publicity with Sascha Baron Cohen and Borat!, it was not too bad. I continually looked forward to seeing the film, and am glad that the great trailer did not reveal everything like I had originally assumed.

The film involves Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), an IRS agent who lives his life by a very strict routine. One day, he wakes up, and begins to hear a woman narrating all of his actions. Suspicious, Crick continues attempting to live his life out, but after an inexplicable comment in regards to his "immenent death", he goes on the hunt for the voice. Randomly spliced into Crick's search is Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson). She is writing a novel about a character named Harold Crick, and is unknowingly the voice Crick keeps hearing. She is battling a case of writer's block, and spends much of the film attempting to come up with the finale for the character.

Unlike many other existential comedies, Fiction is sweet and almost innocent in its design. Yes, the main focus of the film is pretty grim, but the life-altering questions that keep going around during the film do not become anywhere near as depressing and bizarre as those found in the likes of the work of Charlie Kaufman. In a way, Fiction feels a lot like a Kaufman-written film, but lacking in the means of being totally "out there"; almost like being a decaf as opposed to a regular. As a result, while being an excellent film (albeit slightly predictable), it cannot break past the mold already set by the likes of the absolutely brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It just feels like it is missing that spark that could have sprung it right into the brilliance that all films like this strive for.

Going along with the story itself, it feels a little ill-paced in some few instances, but for the most part sucks you right in and keeps you there. It has many comedic elements, and has some great dramatic sequences as well. They all play well, and while I still would not give him a ton of credit, I was very impressed by Helm's first-time effort. His writing feels vibrant and fresh, and in a film industry with absolutely little originality or thought, it is just great that movies like this slip through and get green-lighted. Every piece of dialogue and background feels well expressed, and just play out astonishingly well. On the topic of Crick however, I liked the idea of how neurotic and obsessive Crick was over numbers, but I thought it was a bit of an overkill to include special effect shots showing the numbers being counted within his head. It felt silly in The Da Vinci Code, so why did Sony feel the need to add it here too?

On that note, much like my being impressed by Adam Sandler from time to time, Ferrell really pulls through here, and does give the best performance of his short career. The psychological trauma that his character goes through is evident in his facial and body emotions, and the way he conveys it on screen is nowhere near what I would have expected. He brings an amazing sense of what this character is really about, and gives him a poignancy that makes him so life-like that it becomes almost too great to explain. This is a pathetically sad man who you cannot help but pull for as the film goes on. And for all the right reason too. He may deliver some of the funniest lines in the movie, but he is totally mature and at ease in this role. Thankfully this means that he stays serious for the most part throughout the film, and does not let any Ricky Bobby or Ron Bergundy slip out. He could have easily blown it, but thankfully, manages to stay in check.

Thompson is another particular standout, especially in contrast to Ferrell. She is broken and weak, searching for the perfect ending. The pain and sorrow that goes through her face as she writes and thinks has a poetic excellence to it, and she only continues to prove how good of an actor she is. Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah work well in supporting roles, supporting Ferrell and Thompson respectively as the film progresses on. Hoffman has always had great comedic timing, and he does not let it go to waste here. He plays right off of Ferrell in grand ways, and just feels totally at home in the role. Latifah, while not in the film so much, is very good in her bit parts. Maggie Gyllenhaal also shines here, and clearly has the makings for an Oscar sometime in the late future.

For its small problems, Fiction still is able to prove its worth, and is clearly one of the best films of the year. It will be able to stand proud among the other entries in the existential comedy genre, or just stand proud on its own. Helm's screenplay coupled in with an intoxicatingly great performance by Ferrell make for a great trip to the movies. And sure beats some of the crap that's been released over the past few weeks.

9/10.

Detailed, Astute, Eclectic, and Entertaining Pseudo-Comedy

[WriterDave · 8/10 · 19 November 2006]

"Stranger than Fiction" is the complex tale of a simple IRS man named Harold Crick (an appealing Will Ferrel) who one day awakes to his own voice-over narration only to find he is the unwitting main character in the new tragic novel from acclaimed author Karen Eiffel (an excellent return to form for Emma Thompson). Imagine a Charlie Kaufman penned film where all the cynicism and nihilism is replaced with an endearing and heartfelt melancholy that creates a surprising amount of emotional involvement in characters who would've otherwise been over-reaching literacy devices, and you'll get a feel for the sincere type of entertainment Marc Forster's film provides.

Forster, with his keen eye and eclectic visual sense, populates the film the sharp and contrasting visual angles, camera tricks, and in-frame oddities (like the play with numbers) constantly keeping the viewer engaged and on their toes. Fun supporting turns from Dustin Hoffman as a literary theorist employed by Krick to help find out if the story he is in is a comedy or tragedy, and Queen Latifah as Eiffel's no-nonsense publishing assistant help guide the viewers through imaginative stretches that are occasionally too clever by half. Ferrel gets to show some nice range here, and much like Robin Williams did with "The World According to Garp" and Jim Carrey did with "The Truman Show," graduates with honors into more high-minded quasi-serious roles. His co-lead Thompson is subtly method and well studied as the reclusive sociopathic author who just can't help killing her characters.

What really seals the deal is Maggie Gyllenhal as Farrell's love interest, the anti-establishment baker he is assigned to audit. She literally lights up the screen. There's one expertly framed and perfectly lit shot of her standing outside her townhouse inviting Farrel in for the night where the light from street lamp off screen is filtered in through the shadows of tree branches and hits her face in such a way that in that brief flickering frame you become insanely happy to be watching such a pleasant marriage of literary concepts inside a visual medium. At this point you don't care how the film ends. You're just grateful to experience that giddy moment of pure movie entertainment.

This movie is a balm for the pessimistic.

[jessup-86446 · 10/10 · 12 April 2020]

As the years have gone on I have come to realize that this, not the original Star Wars, is my favorite movie. And, having just re-watched it for the umpteenth time, I decided it was high time I left a review somewhere. I am a cynical person, I don't believe in a lot, I don't believe in love at first sight, or the power of the human spirit, or in humanity in general really. My brother tells me that makes me a misanthrope, and I don't disagree. If I sit down to watch Star Wars for example, I can't help but loudly and frequently pick apart its many flaws: the hammy acting from the extras, the dated special effects, the story as a whole, yadda yadda. But every. single. time. I sit down to watch Stranger than Fiction I find it akin to slipping my aching body into a warm bath after a looong day, my jaded personality submerging beneath the gentle and comforting weight of the familiar story. Will Farrell is a clown most days, making such masterpieces as Anchorman and Ricky Bobby (that was sarcasm), but in this movie he stands shoulder to shoulder with cinematic giants like Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson and he SHINES as Harold Crick, his performance subtle and low key, but poignant and introspective. This of course stands in contrast to Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'Miss Pascal': so vibrant and full of life, with a kind and warm personality that is undiminished by an occasionally fiery temper. Whenever she comes on screen with her passion and femininity I can't help but empathize with Harold, because with each touch and sigh from Maggie I inevitably want her as badly as he does. The two of them coming together is like that bath we talked about, or a hug from someone you love after far too long apart. But setting aside the love interest, the story itself is so much fun to experience: that of a character who is not supposed to know about his impending demise, yet does, and how that knowledge spurs him to embrace his life, however long it shall be. Sentimental? Absolutely. So what? 10 Stars. People more cynical then myself will throw shade at this film, and I strongly urge them to go and eat a cookie.

A Must See!

[lsmelton · 9/10 · 28 October 2006]

This movie was such a great surprise! I saw this at an advanced screening just days after suffering through Marie Antoinette. What a pleasant escape! The cast did an outstanding job. Who doesn't love Will Ferrell, but to see him in this role gives me a whole new level of respect for him as an actor. He simply shines on screen! Maggie Gyllenhaal is a delight. Emma Thompson is brilliant as always. Simply wonderful! The writing was terrific. It was so nice to see a movie that could make you laugh and think (not too hard) at the same time. Direction was well done as well - it was even visually appropriate.

Go see it and take a friend. You will laugh and be happy for a change after leaving a movie.

Strangely Addicting

[imagineer99 · 7/10 · 9 November 2006]

With his unassuming eyes and sheepish, "awe shucks!" demeanor, Will Ferrell is quite simply the guy you root for—the eternal boy trapped in a gangly 6'3" frame. Just a single look can make you giggle and smile so effortlessly that you're often unaware that you're actually doing it. It is with this notion that Stranger than Fiction—Ferrell's first major foray into a theatrical world outside the realm of in-your-face frat boy silliness—just makes sense. By surrounding Ferrell's charisma with a subdued, darkly comic script and a talented supporting cast, we get a film that is both fresh and heartfelt.

Directed by Marc Forster and penned by Zach Helm, Stranger than Fiction is an odd mix-mash, combining a standard comedy with existentialist ideas. Number crunching IRS agent and genuine loser, Harold Crick (Ferrell) one day wakes up to find his life being narrated word for word by burnt out writer Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson). Odd thing is, Eiffel is writing an actual book where Crick just happens to be the main character. To make matters worse, she plans on killing him off as soon as she can make it through a particularly arduous stretch of writer's block.

Originality is one thing that is absent from a majority of contemporary Hollywood pictures, so Fiction immediately gets points for simply trying something different. I suppose it's icing on the cake that the film is genuinely good. Crick, knowing that is death is imminent, begins to break out of his cloistered shell and to experience the fruits of his life. And, in the process he forms a bond with a tax breaking baker (Gyllenhal) and seeks advice from a literature professor, played by a particularly charming Dustin Hoffman

However, even though it is well intentioned, the execution isn't flawless. The romance that develops between Gyllenhal's outcast baker and Ferrell's strait-laced Crick doesn't feel entirely organic. We admire the relationship and smile at its sugar coated sweetness, but we don't necessarily believe their connection. It may taste good, but it doesn't exactly wash down smoothly. Neither, does the film's over reliance on reinforcing generic, "Carpe Diem" philosophies. Towards the second act, things do get sappy. Luckily, by the conclusion, the plot has bounced back to a wonderful limbo of both oddly comic and genuinely heartwarming moments.

For all its flaws, Stranger than Fiction, works. Like a good novel, Forster has fashioned something that is strange, stylistic, and unexpectedly inspiring. And, despite the chinks in its existentialist armor, that's surely something worth writing home about.

Clever intellectual wizardry

[Chris_Docker · 8/10 · 9 December 2006]

What if you only realised the importance of your life only days before you lost it? Even knowing when or how you will die (not such a fatuous idea with the completion of the Genome Project) raises difficult questions about how much we really want to know about ourselves.

Such a theme is usually simplified and subsumed into religious-based tales such as It's a Wonderful Life, but taken as an idea in its own right it has considerable intellectual weight. Harold Crick finds himself the main character in a story as it unfolds, but his annoyance quickly shifts gear as he is aware of the author saying, "Little did he know . . . it would lead to his imminent death."

Not the mindless comedy that the trailer suggests, Stranger Than Fiction is a precise and fairly cerebral story where the laughs stem more from individually appreciating certain aspects of its cleverness rather than any contrived humour.

The surface story is of a man who lives a humdrum if 'successful' life and is awakened to a more three dimensional existence by falling in love. The additional elements will either delight or annoy. IRS auditor Crick (Will Ferrell) starts hearing a voice in his head. It is that of Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson), a famous author. She describes exactly what he is doing but with a rather better vocabulary than he possesses. When she announces his imminent death, he takes drastic steps to meet her and persuade her to change the ending of her novel.

The characterisation, casting and acting is spot-on. Thompson is at her most refreshingly deranged as the harassed and reclusive author. With a literary equivalence of method acting, Eiffel balances on the edge of her desk trying to imagine the thoughts of someone about to make a suicide jump. She sits in the freezing drizzle watching cars cross a bridge to imagine an accident. Her rants at her 'editorial assistant' (who uses more traditional methods of accessing imagination) give a convincing insight into the creative process. While the voice in Crick's head is stereotypical Thompson, the fuller, isolated character, when we meet her, is a minor revelation. "I don't need a nicotine patch," she declaims angrily to her assistant. "I smoke cigarettes."

Maggie Gyllenhaal, as law drop-out turned baker Ana Pascal, sparkles, glows and is sexily alluring and radiant with passionate love of life - and she manages to light up the screen faster than, say, even Juliette Binoche in Chocolat. Dustin Hoffman has the least challenging of the main parts, but he endows his character (an eminent professor of literature) with the gravitas needed to take ideas of literary interconnectedness seriously. Will Ferrell gives a remarkable break-out performance in a straight role, reminiscent of Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. He is superbly suited to the part as audiences expect him to be a shallow comedy character and here he is trying the find the substantial person inside himself. Most of the audience are concentrating so much on the film's intricate hypothesis and how it is worked out, that only afterwards do we realise what a range of emotions Ferrell has to portray with complete seriousness.

Novelist Kay Eiffel (Thompson) anthropomorphises things like Crick's watch (similarly the official website says, in real time, "As the cursor waited anxiously for the site to load, it couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of elation.") We sense a life-imbuing process that might even be likened to what an actor does with his character; but the film goes a stage further by drawing a similarity with the essentially lifeless, clockwork existence of the IRS auditor whose only escape is discovering love with Pascal. His quest is aided by fictional plot analysis from Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) and of course begs the question, what is fiction?

Director Marc Forster showed consummate skill in portraying the positive escapism of JM Barrie's creative Peter-Pan-writing in Finding Neverland. With Stranger Than Fiction, he has teamed up with brilliant new dramatist Zach Helm. Helm is fascinated with the writing process in what he calls a larger Post-Modern movement. "From Pirandello, to Brecht, to Wilder, to Stoppard, to Woody Allen to Wes Anderson, we can see the progression of a contemporary, self-aware, reality-bending and audience-involving wave in dramatic literature," he says. "I love to see Homer Simpson reacting to his creator, Matt Groenig, or the cast of 'Urinetown' complaining from the stage about their own title."

Even the street names, business names, and the characters' last names of Stranger Than Fiction are significant – Crick, Pascal, Eiffel, Escher, Banneker, Kronecker, Cayly, etc. are all puns on mathematicians who focused on the innate order of things. The invitation is to ask what is beyond the symmetry of things.

Stranger Than Fiction meets even its most formidable challenge - making the ending nail-biting and moving after such surreal content. But the ultimate message of the film seems a little trite if it is supposedly coming from a groundbreaking author. Like the glimpses of Eiffel's book, we are given impressive mountains of style but little substance. As the film doesn't press the strengths forcefully by admitting in so many words what it is getting at, there is a chance you may not bother with the subtleties - in which case it adds up to very little.

A superb testament to inventiveness and worthy of awards in many different categories, Stranger Than Fiction somehow falls short of being a masterpiece.

Saw it this evening at the Merrill Lynch Conference

[matt-1202 · 14 September 2006]

I saw an advanced screening of Stranger than Fiction tonight on the Sony lot, as part of the Merrill Lynch media conference being held this week in Pasadena, CA.

I hadn't heard much about this movie prior to seeing it tonight, so I had NO expectations, which is really how I like to see a movie (without any preconceived notions, good or bad).

The movie was very well acted, and told an interesting story. I kind of look at Will Ferrell in this movie the way I looked at Adam Sandler after "Punch Drunk Love". You're not sure how to react to Ferrell/Sandler's on-screen persona's, as up to this point, you've always thought of them as the funny men, who couldn't (or wouldn't) attempt a more dramatic role. For Ferrell, who's probably at the height of his popularity, this was a good move for him, as well as an ideal role.

All in all, I really liked this movie, and I would definitely recommend it to friends/family.

A missed opportunity for greatness.

[Pavel-8 · 6/10 · 9 December 2006]

As the cinematic writing debut of Zach Helm, "Stranger Than Fiction" may very well have the most creative storyline of the year. Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is a nondescript IRS agent who awakes one day to hear a woman narrating much of his life. Unbeknownst to him at the time, the voice belongs to a well-known author who routinely kills her main characters in her novels. No big deal, except for the fact that he soon learns of his fate. That of course horrifies him, and he spends the majority of the film coping with that inevitability.

Unfortunately the lofty possibilities raised by such a fantastically original idea are never fully explored. "Stranger" doesn't take the time to delve into the life-and-death complexities that could arise from a man searching for the why and who behind his future demise. Nor does it address most of the unique moral questions and obligations that would arise. Instead the script settles for clichés like a typically rushed cinematic romance, premises that aren't all that bad, but are more suited to be side stories, not main arcs. These shortcomings glaringly keep Stranger from reaching the Oscar-winning level of something like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" or other Charlie Kaufman work. In fact this movie might be best described as Diet Charlie Kaufman, a pop psychological movie, a thinking movie for those who don't really want to think.

As Adam Sandler did for "Punch-Drunk Love", Will Ferrell will no doubt receive heaps of praise for his portrayal of IRS agent Harold Crick. Make no mistake, Ferrell is fine, but don't let anyone convince you this is an Oscar-worthy turn. The simple fact that he plays it straight, without getting nearly naked or over-reacting doesn't automatically create a great performance. The reality is that while he has his moments, Ferrell is the straight man in this picture, a tepid character who contrasts well with Maggie Gyllenhaal's anarchist baker Anna, Dustin Hoffman's Yoda of literature professor, and Emma Thompson's work as author Kay Eiffel, which results in the best performance in the film. She lends the part a wackiness that seems genuinely fresh, in odd, unteachable ways like how she touches both sides of a door frame when passing. She acts crazy enough but not so crazy that you sense the acting as she neurotically haggles over how she can kill off her protagonist.

In the end, "Stranger Than Fiction" is like Anna's cookies. They both taste good at the time, as the movie does have its humorous and entertaining moments, but their long term value is limited due to their lack of nutrition. Nothing here is going to linger, but if you're interested, you won't be sorry you saw it.

Bottom Line: A missed opportunity, but still worth a rental or cheap theater ticket. 6 of 10.

TIFF Screening

[grissomsbutterfly1013 · 10/10 · 10 September 2006]

Saw it at The Toronto International Film Festival and it was well done. Original storyline, fantastic performance from Ferrel, Thompson and Hoffman. The most moving performance from Will Ferrel I have ever seen is within this film. The storyline some may believe to be too far fetched at first to take seriously, but in the end it does work. What makes the film work the most are the brilliant performances from Ferrel and Thompson. Without these two- the film couldn't have been pulled off! I recommend this flick to anyone looking to laugh and cry and then laugh again. It was a truly brilliant film. 10/10 (Hoffman and Ferrel were too kind to shake hands and greet the fans inside the screening as well.)

Dramatic success eludes Charlie Kaufman clone

[MalcolmJTaylor · 7/10 · 21 November 2006]

In spite of "Stranger Than Fiction's" several charming scenes, especially those between Maggie Gyllenhaal and Will Ferrell, it ultimately underwhelms with its own insignificance.

"Stranger Than Fiction" does not leave the viewer with any lasting impression. It feels like a Wal-Mart version of a Charlie Kaufman film, metaphysics for the masses if you will. Kaufman's masterworks: "Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation" and "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" are arguably as influential to modern film-making as "Pulp Fiction". And they are all light-years ahead of this film. Which is simply derivative without delivering anything new to audiences.

This Kaufman-lite for the faint of heart who don't want to watch anything too psychologically revealing has the potential to be much more than what it is: a light hearted stroll through the unconscious mind, with little more than a blue bird on its shoulder. Unfortunately for film-lovers, it never goes beyond its goal of converting audiences into happy movie-goers.

Although Ferrell is entertaining through out, it is Gyllenhaal who resonates in this film with a magnetic performance as a counter-culture baker. Dustin Hoffman also seems lost here in the role of a cutesy professor adding bits of schtick, as if it were left to him to pick up the comedic slack left by Ferrell. Emma Thompson's writer's blocked author suits the role well, but is the character most clipped by a gutless script. The appearance of Queen Latifa as her strict, corporate "unblocker" is bland and out-of-place in this film.

In terms of leading dramatic performances by a comic actor, the hat is tipped to Jim Carrey's work in "...Spotless mind". His performance in that film is a full-blown dramatic characterization. Whereas Ferrell's dead pan attempt at "serious" acting is just that. It always feels like a comedian playing straight, rather than an actor realizing a character.

What if your life really WAS a book?

[babsbnz · 8/10 · 5 October 2006]

Fantasy movie, a la "Groundhog Day" where a man, Harold Crick in this case, finds he has no control over his life....which leads to him really appreciate his life. Although the premise is clearly fantasy, the concept is intriguing and compelling.

Cast is terrific; those who usually over-act, e.g. Dustin Hoffman and Will Ferrell, play it lower-keyed and believable. Emma Thompson, Queen Latifah and Maggie Gyllenhall (and Tom Hulce, almost unrecognizable in a single scene)round out the excellent cast .

A feel-good movie, mostly comedy but with some tragic undertones.

Close to two hours but you won't be looking at your watch very often.

Solid if unspectacular

[carlo_simone18 · 6/10 · 7 May 2018]

Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable effort from director Marc Forster and screenwriter Zach Helm. The most satisfying aspect of it was Will Ferrell's grounded and restrained performance as Harold Crick which seems like a breath of fresh air compared to his usual over-the-top antics in certain comedies. The acting across the board was pretty strong with Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the supporting cast.

The theme of appreciating life and living it to the fullest is one I felt was explored with the correct amount of nuance, whilst seeing Crick descend into a nervous breakdown due to his life being narrated as part of author Karen Eiffel's story is quite interesting.

However, I do have some problems with the film, mainly due to how the moral implications of Eiffel potentially having killed real people with her writing are not really explored, and the philosophical side of the narrative that could have emerged is not brought up really. Also the romance that builds between Crick and Ana Pascal doesn't grow organically for me.

In the end this was a fairly enjoyable comedy-drama that I would recommend.

Less than meets the eye

[brefane · 5/10 · 23 November 2006]

Essentially trite whimsy. Ferrel is appropriate enough, the rest of the cast is appealing and the film is amusing and quirky: It's all those words reviewers love to use... but, after the first hour I began to wonder where it's all going. The premise is interesting, if unoriginal, and the set design etc... all cleverly done (the bakery shop's window is designed like a watch) but, the film ultimately doesn't deliver and unravels at the point it should come together. A build up to something that doesn't come off and a descent into a feel good bit of whimsy:the film equivalent of cookies and milk. "It's a Wonderful Life" for a new generation.

Stranger Than Fiction is one of those movies people say has to be seen twice to fully understand and/or appreciate, unfortunately, I don't think the film is worth a second look. However, if you're a fan of the actors involved and/or films like PROVIDENCE,THE TRUMAN SHOW, ADAPTATION,...it's worth a look. Individual scenes work nicely but, ultimately, the film disappoints, and evaporates in the memory. As a puzzle it has too many pieces and it's not worth putting together.

Choice against fate when fiction collides with reality.

[alexander-se10 · 8/10 · 9 August 2006]

Stranger Than Fiction is a quirky black comedy about Harold Crick, an average man with a fascination and preoccupation for numbers, who discovers that he is apparently little more than a character in someone else's story and that the course of his life appears to have been scripted. Everything he does and thinks is narrated as he does and thinks it, so after the realisation that he's not actually going mad he tries to find out what is really going on.

I liked this film a lot - it had elements of similarly themed films where fictional worlds intersect and influence the real world and vice versa, such as The Hours and The Purple Rose Of Cairo. Yet it takes this concept in a new direction and touches on the philosophies of choice and fate - if the story of our lives is already written, can we change the script? Does knowing what the future holds influence our lives or are we just following a predestined course whatever we do? As you might expect Marc Foster gives good and capable direction and there are lots of elements of the film that were really very enjoyable. Some scenes are maybe drawn out too long, but for the most part he manages to keep the film flowing smoothly. The 'mathematical images' which beautifully illustrate the clockwork mind of Harold Crick are a great idea and reminiscent of the Ikea scene from Fight Club.

The acting on the whole was of an excellent standard. Will Ferrell's dry delivery was absolutely perfect for the role of a man with his fate in the hands of a seemingly unknown force. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah all give very respectable performances as does the relatively unknown Tony Hale. Yet I felt that the gem in this film had to be Emma Thompson's performance as the neurotic and fidgety author Kay Eiffel who seems to become increasingly unstrung as the film progresses.

I was lucky enough to get to see a test screening of this film tonight. I was expecting a generic Hollywood romantic comedy yet the storyline was sufficiently quirky and engaging, and performances were superb, giving it a rightful place alongside other great modern black comedies.

Very good and very unexpected

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 18 April 2008]

I have been very surprised recently that I have actually enjoyed several Will Ferrell movies. Why surprised? Well, to put it bluntly, most films made by ex-Saturday Night Live performers have been pretty wretched (though there are some exceptions) and I usually avoid them like the plague. With films like DR. DETROIT, NEIGHBORS, A NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY, FUNNY FARM, BEST DEFENSE, HERE'S PAT, etc., it's easy to understand my misgivings. However, despite my strong bias, I must admit I really enjoyed TALLADEGA NIGHTS as well as STRANGER THAN FICTION--though they are both very, very different movies.

While TALLADEGA NIGHTS is extremely silly and a great parody, STRANGER THAN FICTION is not exactly a comedy, though it has some nice comedic moments. Instead, it's a fantasy, comedy and romance all rolled into one and it was nice to see Ferrell finally underplay a role. His character was extremely obsessive-compulsive and emotionally constricted--yet this was NOT played for laughs--an excellent decision.

The film initially seems a lot like the old skits on "The Carol Burnett Show" which featured a writer typing a story and you saw actors playing it out as if they were real. However, the simple story idea was drawn out but didn't seem padded and offered some lovely insights into deeper philosophical issues. It was NOT a film for dopey teens or an undemanding audience, but a thoughtful and intelligently constructed film that caught my interest.

If you are looking for screwball comedy or lots of laughs, then you will no doubt be disappointed. However, if you watch the film with few preconceptions and expectations and have an open mind, I am sure you'll enjoy the film. It's nice to see that I was wrong about the film and the "SNL curse" did not seem to apply.

A pretentious, irritating film

[tralee71-1 · 25 November 2006]

I never thought I'd see Emma Thompson in a role that made me dislike her, but this film did it. She plays a rude, neurotic novelist who seems compelled to treat people badly without reason. Dustin Hoffman is similarly irritating as a lordly literary don who, despite Ferrell's request for help, seems bored and too busy to really give a damn about whether the troubled IRS auditor lives or dies. An added irritant: Hoffman doesn't make a move without a coffee cup or coffee pot in his hand (coffee swilling has become the successor to the compulsory cigarette smoking of the older movies).

Maggie Gyllenhaal is fetching as the love interest, but I liked her a lot more in the first half - when she was giving Ferrell a hard time - than later when she falls for him and turns into a fawning teen-ager.

If the novelist did indeed have the power to determine the fate of Ferrell, she surely chose a cruel and painful alternative to actually killing him off.

This film tried to be clever, inventive and message-laden, but to me it pretty much failed.

clever, feel good comedy

[deanveggy · 7/10 · 26 June 2017]

this off-beat movie is the opposite of predictable. i love the fact that the humour is subtle and over-acting does not live here. it's saying something that it has the spirit of groundhog day. i now have to keep typing to meet the draconian minimum review length of 5 lines. so like most people i probably wont bother in future.

Helm and Forster: The New Kaufman and Jonze?

[dtb · 9/10 · 25 November 2006]

I saw STRANGER THAN FICTION (STF) on its opening weekend, and I think it's one of the most engaging, funny, poignant movies about writing, the creative process, and human nature I've seen since ADAPTATION. While Will Ferrell is a fave in our household, I must admit this is the first time I've seen him in a movie and thought of him as the character he's playing, not as Will Ferrell. Toning down his screechy/crazy qualities without losing his ability to make audiences laugh, Ferrell stars as unassuming IRS agent Harold Crick, who loves his job, so you know his life needs an overhaul! :-) Even Harold's curly-topped sidewall haircut seems to hint that his well-ordered life is about to dissolve into craziness. One morning, it does, amid FIGHT CLUB-style captions and the plummy, ironic tones of a British female narrator accompanying Harold's thoughts and actions in the opening scene -- narration that Harold can hear along with those of us in the audience. Our increasingly puzzled, alarmed hero soon realizes he's the protagonist in a novelist's new book-in-progress -- not just any novelist, but the reclusive Karen "Kay" Eiffel (Emma Thompson), who's been suffering from writer's block for 10 years and whose novels always end with her protagonists dying! As Kay's publisher sends compassionate but no-nonsense troubleshooter Penny Escher (Queen Latifah) to help unblock her, Harold seeks help from literary professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), an expert on the problematic author's favorite phrase "Little did he know..." It might be a subject especially dear to a writer's heart (especially in gags like Hilbert questioning Harold on standard literary devices to see if he's the hero of a comedy or a tragedy: "Have you been invited to a country house and had to solve a murder?...To find out what story you're in, I have to find out what stories you're *not* in..."), but I found STF funny, touching, and playfully surreal as director Marc Forster and screenwriter Zach Helm prove to be the new Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman, only with a touch of sweetness. In addition to the excellent Ferrell, Hoffman, Thompson, and Queen Latifah, the great cast includes Linda Hunt and an all-but-unrecognizable Tom Hulce as well-meaning but unhelpful psychiatrists, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Ana, an anti-establishment baker who refuses to pay taxes on munitions (The Clash's "Death or Glory" plays in the background when Harold visits her bakery to audit her, only to be booed and heckled by Ana and her customers. Later, Harold wins Ana over by bringing her flours -- that's right, flours, not flowers! :-). There's nice location shooting in Chicago, too. STF is well worth heading out to a theater to see, and when it inevitably comes out on home video, it'll definitely be in the Writers' Movies section of my DVD collection alongside ADAPTATION, THE SINGING DETECTIVE, and the underrated ALEX AND EMMA!

It's an enjoyable if not brilliant movie

[GreyHunter · 6/10 · 6 October 2019]

While I enjoyed this movie, a couple reservations held me back:

1) The "writing" we're exposed to via V.O. is distinctly average. If I'm feeling even moderately unkind, I'd call it mediocre. To me, this is not something to overlook when the entire plot revolves around the supposed brilliance of the author, including the fact that her novel was apparently so important to literary canon that it is worth a human (however he might have come into being) life. Which brings me to point two...

2) The professor is a psychopath. The assistant, Penny, isn't much better. The professor not only makes the argument that Crick has to die for literature (notice he isn't arguing that the boy needs to be saved, and even if he did, there's no inexorable or inarguable reason the story has to put the boy in danger in order for Harold to die) but he actively tries to convince Harold that his life is worthless compared to the ending of some novel (that, as I noted above, wasn't particularly well-written.) Hilbert demonstrates absolutely no sympathy toward Harold's situation at the end. He doesn't even pretend to care about Harold's desire to live. Penny, while not as vociferously psychopathic as Hilbert, also demonstrates a certain amount of lack of sympathy. Her only concern is that the book be finished and that her bosses at the publishers be pleased. And Harold himself gives up far too easily. Sure, he sees it as saving the boy, but is he really too stupid to explore alternatives that don't require an either/or self-sacrifice?

Eiffel is the only one in that group that acts like a normal, sane human being. She understands the full potential horror and the awful implications that the news of Harold's existence raises. She agonizes not only over Harold's death, but over the possibility that she might have already killed at least 8 other living, self-aware and decent human beings. That, to me, was the most compelling aspect of this movie. I mean, yeah, Harold and Ana made a nice couple and I could get behind that. But the mental trial of Karen Eiffel were by far the most fascinating plot thread.

All in all, though, if you don't think too deeply, it's a mild, unoffensive movie to kill a couple hours. Just try your best to keep your mind in autopilot, because once you start paying close attention, it's hard to ignore the unexplained processes for how the narrator/character dynamic works, and the borderline psychopathic moral of the story toward the end.

Great script

[keybdwizrd · 8/10 · 6 October 2006]

I saw this film at the Chicago Film Festival opening last night. I went not knowing a thing about it in advance, and was pleasantly surprised. I'd suggest that people DON'T read specifics about this film before seeing it.

The story/script is fantastic - I'd be surprised if it didn't get nominated for the big original screenplay awards. It's interesting, funny, poignant, and quite charming, actually.

The casting in general is wonderful... As someone else said, Hoffman is perfectly understated... I'd never seen Maggie Gyllenhaal before, but I'm a fan after seeing this one. And Emma Thompson could see a best supporting actress nod for this film.

Sadly, I thought the film's weakest point was the casting of Will Ferrell in the lead. He's not bad by any means, but he just doesn't work at the same level as the rest of the cast. Kudos to him for what he DOES accomplish in this film, but it would've had plenty of starpower without him, and the role could've been used to showcase someone else's talent.

All in all, thumbs up.

Just my two cents.

Pretty good, not typical Ferrell movie

[minifiecw · 7/10 · 12 January 2021]

For the English Major, amateur filmmaker, and any lover of stories, this movie is for you.

For everyone else, I encourage watching this movie if you are looking for a nice, somewhat understated love-story despite some dark underlying themes.

While it is not as humorous as many of Will Ferrell's films (and could've used a little bit more Maggie Gyllenhaal), he led an excellent cast with a heartfelt performance. Additionally, the writing kept me guessing the whole time and involved an interesting and unique thought-experiment: What if you heard someone narrating your life?

A wonderful film that works as both a comedy and a drama

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 6 April 2011]

I first saw Stranger Than Fiction because it had a concept that I was really intrigued by. But I was intrepid too in approaching it, as apart from the odd decent, funny movie like Elf I am not a fan of Will Ferrell. But what a surprise since Stranger Than Fiction does work wonderfully.

I needn't have worried about Ferrell either, as he abandons the somewhat tired shtick that spoilt movies like The Other Guys and goes for the more understated approach. The result is a both funny and moving performance and perhaps his best role in his best movie. He is very well supported by an alluring Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffmann who here is more tick-riddled in an enjoyable way than ever before.

Not only that, Stranger than Fiction works as both a comedy and a drama. The comedic elements are genuinely funny and the dramatic elements are poignant and affecting without falling into mawkish over-sentimentality. The premise is very inspired and loopy, following in the footsteps of Being John Malkovich and I Heart Huckabees, and avoids falling into forced intellectual whimsy, and it is well-rounded off.

The production values are beautiful and striking and captured lovingly by the tight editing. The soundtrack is very beguiling with faithful instrumental versions and inspired song choices that don't spoil the mood of the film. The script is just great, and succeeds in being funny and poignant, and Marc Forster's understated direction makes it one of his better and more focused directorial efforts.

Stranger Than Fiction could have been shorter perhaps by about 7 or so minutes, but overall it is a wonderful film but several aspects made it work when I wasn't expecting them to. 9/10 Bethany Cox

has a good mix of whimsy and pathos, an excellent Ferrell performance, if less than stellar overall

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 14 November 2006]

I'd recommend Stranger Than Fiction, especially if you're a fan of its stars. It also speaks to a good career ahead for first-time screenwriter Zak Helm. That it also is that old, over-used statement- the parts more entertaining than the whole- is maybe in part attributable to an inherent structural flaw in the script. After I left the movie I did think about how a person's will may be dictated or not, or what really carries that man to do what he decides to do, or if he tries to do nothing at all (which Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell, does to no avail). Because the story itself is about contrivance, their is an ever-looming air of contrivance in the script too.

It's hard to explain exactly, and Helm was wise to avoid certain pit-falls, such as really giving a 'logical' explanation to how the narrator's writing sticks into Crick's head in the first place, or that it might not just collapse once writer and 'character' meet. But there's still some things that I found a little troublesome- for example, does the narrator dictate the little things that Crick does, or would Crick just do them anyway? What I mean is, how much is determined by what is written or not. There is also the air of questioning where these characters are outside of their set spots in the screenplay- and Crick, albeit not without some interest is not really the kind of character I would think would make for a great subject for a book by a presumably well-renown, recluse author (played in the best way possible in the one-note terms by Emma Thompson).

For the sake of Crick's central change from being very calculated, precisely so, early on, to becoming a man much more based on how he wants to live his life not based rigidly on structure- even in the structure of 'little did he know', which is kind of amusing as a writer myself- there is that sort of contrivance anyway. Yet at the same time, individual scenes are very well written though, and given fresh life by the cast.

Ferrell here, of course, is showing much more of his talents than usual, at doing much more of a grounded, every-day kind of guy who has the extraordinary happen to him. He's always convincing in the part, even in scenes that are awkward or made to really pull up more of his talents than usual. That I would still have a very slight preference for his comedy roles and skills as a satirist/performer may be just subjective, though this- plus his underrated turn in Melinda & Melinda- goes to relay how he can play genuine just as well as silly and fearlessly stupid. Hoffman, as the literature professor who helps out Crick through his crisis at points, is also very good, and their scenes together were some of my favorite in the film. Gyllenhaal works well too as the romantic side for Crick's change in self.

So really, it's a worthwhile trip into what was appropriately called by one critic as 'Charlie Kaufman-lite', as it goes to lengths to be an original work, but at the same time one can't help but know how things will turn out in the end, if only from the immense heap of circumstance given clairvoyance, or vice versa, and that it is, in the end, a work out of Hollywood. Marc Foster's direction does go for little odd touches to add to Helm's writing, such as numbers and lines and such on screen in fast fashion to show Crick's mind working in the form of his life early on.

And the watch means probably as much as the gold watch did in Pulp Fiction in the sense of what it will lead to for the character. That it doesn't feel though completely satisfying in its sort of original send-up is understandable, but partly forgivable; it's the kind of work that gives talented actors some fun and variety, and there are at least a few truly laugh-out-loud funny moments.

worse than a good film

[come2whereimfrom · 5/10 · 1 December 2006]

Pitching itself alongside the films of Charlie Kaufman and low-fi indie hits such as 'Thumbsucker' this film doesn't have the charms of 'Eternal Sunshine' or the central performance of say 'The Truman show'. Where as Jim Carey brought a certain lovable quality to both his roles in said films, Will Ferrell just brings dumb. The film starts well with quirky graphics overlaid on the action as Emma Thompson narrates the life of Ferrell's Harold Crick, a stuck up taxman who doesn't live but exists. The whole premise of the film is that Emma Thompson who is writing the story is trying to kill off Harold but as he gets wind of it and starts to live his life he doesn't want this to happen so sets out to change his own destiny. Enlisting the help of Dustin Hoffman who is basically revisiting the character he played in 'I heart huckabees' the films few highlights come from the two of them trying to figure out what kind of book Harold is in, in a series of bizarre literary conversations. But what starts as a promising philosophical dark comedy fast turns into a slushy 'Love Actually' type live for the day because you don't know how long you've got melodrama. At no point in the film do you believe that free-thinking radical none tax paying tattooed young beauty played by Maggie Gyllenhaal would ever fall for the old grey boring Ferrell, let alone start to turn his life around, even though they do say opposites attract. OK it makes you think a bit, it may even make you laugh, but it lacks the style it pretends to have and by the end just falls flat on its (head so far up it's own) arse.