Stranger Than Fiction starring Will
Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin
Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma
Thompson
Not Your Typical Will Ferrell Movie
Personal Review: Stranger Than Fiction starring Will Ferrell,
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma
Thompson
Marc Forster (Finding Neverland (Widescreen Edition)) directs a strange
tale of a man who discovers he's a character in a novel!
Will Ferrell's character, Harold Crick, has been going through life for the
last ten years as an auditor for the IRS, methodical, counts every step,
times himself to precision. He even counts the brush strokes while
brushing his teeth and has the single slip knot tie science down.
One day he finds he has a narrator and discovers he is the main character
in a novel, by a woman (Emma Thompson as Kay Eiffel) who's trying to
figure out how to kill him off but she can't get rid of her writer's block.
As she chain smokes and downs vodka in an attempt to discover the
proper way to wrap the plot, Crick finds that he must stop this author at all
costs. His life depends on it. As the narrator gets loud and he's the only
person who can hear it, he yells at it, looks for it, and finally begs for help
to figure out who is narrating his life before it's too late.
Interesting premise by screenwriter Zack Helm harkens to a story I recall
reading from L. Ron Hubbard, published back in the 1940s called
Typewriter in the Sky (Typewriter in the Sky).
Both books pertain to a guy who finds himself living a fictional story. Both
characters are struggling with not dying but trying to change the plot before
their respective authors kill them off. And of course they both have
occupations that no one likes: Pirate and a Tax Collector.
Well, as an analogy, Isaac Asimov's galactic empire and George Lucas'
Star Wars galactic empire are similar as well. [Compare: The Foundation
Trilogy and Star Wars Trilogy
The stories between Zach's and Hubbard's are overall dissimilar in many
other ways. Harold Crick has actually come to life in modern time s,
actually meets his author and attempts to change his fate and then comes
to accept it as the only way. But it plays out differently and has a cute
ending which I won't reveal of course.
Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie - 25th Anniversary Edition) plays the literary
professor who at first thinks Harold is nuts but then plays along and finds
that perhaps Harold actually is hearing a narrator. The professor is
convinced that Harold must die for the good of the plot.
It's a lot of fun seeing the character changing before the viewer's eyes.
Harold was introverted, alone, methodical and on a rat race treadmill.
When the treadmill was shaken he did all he could to build a better mouse
trap.
Philosophically, we can look at the tale as a disregard for fate, that we are
not predestined to lead a certain path but can choose our own paths.
Ferrell, with Maggie Gyllenhaal (she's great as the romantic lead, Ana, and
you've seen her in: The Dark Knight (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital
Copy with Exclusive Steelbook Packaging) ~ Christian Bale, Heath Ledger,
Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Eckhart (DVD - Dec 9, 2008)) and Queen
Latifa (Bringing Down The House (Widescreen Edition)) make for a fun
cast.
The humor is there, dark at times, and a bit of toilet humor (it is 2006 after
all) make for an entertaining picture that you really must see.
The DVD has plenty of features, several extended and deleted scenes and
interviews with the cast and crew that really show the love they had for this
film.
I really liked the music as well -- "Give a little time for the child within you."
Great stuff, quite endearing.
The filmed interviews, one used in the film, had a critic book show called
The Book Channel, with Darlene Sunshine. Darlene won't let a little thing
like research or even reading a book stop her from having a good time
interviewing authors who appear on her show. Hilarious.
Other movies by director Marc Forster:
Quantum of Solace (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Monster's Ball
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