Stranger Than Fiction

Much was written about Will Ferrell's first "dramatic role" as Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who begins hearing a voice narrating his life. But Stranger Than Fiction is hardly a drama. However, what Ferrell does--like Jim Carrey before him in The 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 from Stranger Than Fiction

"Counting Brush Strokes," A featurette on the filming of Stranger Than Fictionhigh bandwidth

Tax Man!: A clip from the film high bandwidth

Queen Latifah on working with Emma Thompson high bandwidth

Stills from Stranger Than Fiction (click for larger image)

Beyond Stranger Than Fiction on Amazon.com

Comic Actors Go Dramatic

CD Soundtrack

Emma Thompson Essentials

Customer Review: An Interesting Look Into The Art Of Living

With the focus firmly on character development, director Marc Forster pushes actor Will Ferrell to a solid performance that is clearly outside his comfort zone of slapstick comedy.



As IRS auditor Harold Crick, Ferrell is caught in a web of living a life that is being written by author Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson) that will end in Crick's death. Literature professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) helps Crick put the jigsaw pieces together on why he is hearing in his mind a "narration" of his life as it happens.



A morality play on life, art and romance, it is an interesting look into living each day to its fullest and ultimately striving to do the right thing in every situation, even if some would believe it is just life imitating art.

Customer Review: Fantastic

I was pleasantly surspised by this movie! Will Ferell did a wonderful job. He was shickingly serious but still commical. I had heard about this movie from varous people and my friend happened to have it and I watched and now I'm in love with this movie. Maggie Gyllenhal does a great job in this as well. Great movie!
See details