I always thought it would be cool to have a soundtrack to my life, some nice pop during the happy moments and a little old-school rock when I'm mad. But having someone narrate it would not be as fun, especially if they said I was going to die but wouldn't say when or where. This is the basic premise of Stranger Than Fiction, directed by Marc Forster. Stranger Than Fiction is, well, strange. It stars Will Ferrell (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby) as IRS agent Harold Crick. Crick lives a mundane life ruled by numbers; he counts his strokes while brushing his teeth, he counts the seconds it takes to tie his tie, he counts his steps... you get the picture. That is until he hears the voice. The voice is of a woman narrating his life "accurately and with a better vocabulary." At first it freaks him out, which leads to some extremely amusing scenes, but then his life is changed forever.
"Little did he know that events had been set in motion that would lead to his imminent death," he hears the narrator say. The sentence prompts Ferrell to seek help. He first turns to a psychologist who of course diagnoses Schizophrenia. However, because the voice is in the "third person omniscient" he rules out that possibility and instead turns to a literary professor played by Dustin Hoffman (Meet the Fockers). Ferrell and Hoffman go through a series of tests to try to determine if he is in a comedy or tragedy. At the same time, Emma Thompson's (Love Actually) character, Kay Eiffel, is a famous tragic literature author who has writer's block while trying to kill the main character of her most recent book. Throughout the movie she struggles to find the perfectly ironic and heartbreaking end for him until it finally comes to her. At the same time, Ferrell finally discovers that Thompson is the author who is narrating his story, and he races to contact the recluse before she kills him off.
The actors are phenomenal in their roles. Ferrell, who I have to admit I had doubts about, was perfect. He never overacted and he made his character feel truthful and real. He was funny the way the character was meant to be funny.
Hoffman of course was also fantastic, and I expected no less from him. He brought just the right amount of quirky eccentricity and serious absurdity to his role. I am a huge fan of Thompson as well, and she brought all of her wonderful talent to the movie. The only thing is that I would have liked to see more of her and not just her voice in the movie.
The plot line is incredible. However, the writing and directing make it easy and natural for the audience members to suspend their disbelief. The writing is beautiful. It's funny and it gets across a message without hammering it into our heads. While Helm, the writer, nicely emulates the descriptive and sometimes flashy wording of literature, he also subtly captures his meaning of life in the script. Forster brought the script to the screen with a brilliance that did not surprise me after seeing Finding Neverland. He takes some extremely original and creative chances that pay off in the movie. At the same time he never overwhelms it to the point that the movie becomes ridiculous. In all, Stranger Than Fiction is one of the best well-rounded movies I've seen in months. The story is funny, touching and original. It has truth and absurdity and romance and humor. And the last line is absolutely fabulous.
See this movie as soon as you possibly can. Grade: A
