Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Harold Crick: Will Ferrell
Ana Pascal: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Karen Eiffel: Emma Thompson
Prof. Jules Hilbert: Dustin Hoffman
Penny Escher: Queen Latifah
Dave: Tony Hale
Carla: Denise Hughes
Young Boy: Ricky Adams
Homeless Man: Larry Neumann, Jr.
Universal Pictures presents a film written by Zach Helm and directed by Marc Forster.
Running time: 113 minutes.
Rated PG-13 for some disturbing images, sexuality, brief language and nudity.
Release Date: November 10, 2006
Review Date: November 22, 2006
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Schizophrenia. This is the diagnosis given by a therapist to Harold Crick (Ferrell), who is hearing a voice in his head. However, the voice is not talking to him but about him. His rather mundane life - which is lived either alone in his apartment or working at the I.R.S. and involves counting steps and toothbrush strokes - is being narrated. Harold is to believe that he has become a character in someone's story. At least it's better for your ego to tell yourself that than to tell yourself, "I'm going insane."
Insanity is the least of Harold's worries, however, when he is standing innocently by a bus stop and the narrator - who is merely talking about him and not to him - states that he's going to die.
Perhaps Harold isn't going insane. Perhaps this voice he hears is real, and belongs to critically acclaimed author Karen Eiffel (Thompson). She too is suffering, but simply from a case of writer's block as opposed to probable schizophrenia. For the first time in her career, she even has an assistant to help her Insanity or not, her voice may be what Harold Crick needs to finally start living his life - however little of it he has left.
While the premise behind Stranger Than Fiction is improbable, the basic story is nothing new. It poses an often posed question - what would you do when faced with an impending death? Try to avoid it, perhaps by seeking advice from a local professor (Hoffman). Do something you've always wanted to do but figured you never had the time. Or, of course, maybe do more than just gaze at and ponder about the girl of your dreams with the room-lighting, infectious smile (Gyllenhaal).
Will Ferrell has finally graduated into the class of comedic stars who have been given the opportunity to showcase that they can actually act. Much like Jim Carrey in films like The Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love, Ferrell makes the most of that opportunity and shows us that stupid comedies - while there's nothing wrong with them - will not make up his entire résumé.
The rest of the cast is fantastic as well, as Stranger Than Fiction provides one of the best ensembles of 2006. While tattooed and rebelous, it's tough for anyone, not just Harold Crick, to fall in love with Maggie Gyllenhaal. Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are fantastic, as they almost always are. And I believe that Queen Latifah may be one of the only actresses out there to properly fill the roll of the "assistant" - by making us (or at least me) ignore that the character probably wasn't all that necessary.
Stranger Than Fiction is indeed a work of fiction, but, while ludicrous, it comes together as seeming real. The wild yet mundane story of Harold Crick is brought to life here like it is fact, although it's really fiction. Strange, isn't it?
***1/2 (out of ****)