*zing*
Stranger than Fiction is a new movie with a familiar premise: that the protagonist finds himself the subject of a story, and, disagreeing with the narrator, attempts to influence her narration. It might be said to belong to the magic realism genre, in that no attempt is made to explain the inexplicable (a man hearing his life narrated by a voice in his head).
Harold Crick is a bland, by-the-numbers IRS agent who suddenly finds his life the subject of a narrative that only he can hear. On a quest to interact with the narrator, so compelled because she lets slip the phrase "imminent death", he meets with a professor of literature after first, unsuccessfully, seeing a psychologist. This is a bit of their dialogue:
Professor Hilbert: "The last thing to determine conclusively is whether you're in a comedy or a tragedy..."
Professor: "In a tragedy you die, in a comedy you get hitched."
Professor: "Most comic heros fall in love with people who are introduced after the story has begun. Now, these are people who hate the hero initially, although I can't imagine anyone hating you, Harold."
Harold Crick: "Professor, I'm an IRS agent. Everyone hates me."
Professor: "Alright, alright, good. Have you met anyone recently that might loathe the very core of you?"
Crick: "I just started auditing a woman who told me to 'get bent.'"
Professor: "well, that sounds like a comedy. Try to develop that."
Harold Crick is a bland, by-the-numbers IRS agent who suddenly finds his life the subject of a narrative that only he can hear. On a quest to interact with the narrator, so compelled because she lets slip the phrase "imminent death", he meets with a professor of literature after first, unsuccessfully, seeing a psychologist. This is a bit of their dialogue:
Professor Hilbert: "The last thing to determine conclusively is whether you're in a comedy or a tragedy..."
Professor: "In a tragedy you die, in a comedy you get hitched."
Professor: "Most comic heros fall in love with people who are introduced after the story has begun. Now, these are people who hate the hero initially, although I can't imagine anyone hating you, Harold."
Harold Crick: "Professor, I'm an IRS agent. Everyone hates me."
Professor: "Alright, alright, good. Have you met anyone recently that might loathe the very core of you?"
Crick: "I just started auditing a woman who told me to 'get bent.'"
Professor: "well, that sounds like a comedy. Try to develop that."