FilmLit: Stranger than Fiction (2006)

Film Review: Stranger than Fiction is a fictional and fantastic account of an author meeting her novel's protagonist. Too clever for its own good? Nope. Just clever enough. The film begins with a voice-over, which we soon learn is the author writing her book, and simultaneously narrating the daily life of our hero, Harold Crick (Will Ferrell). Crick is a lonely IRS agent with such a minimal life that he seems to live his life only as if waiting to die. He begins to hear the voice describing all he does. We also see the author herself, Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), struggling with a 10-year writer's block, helped by a quietly competent assistant (Queen Latifah) hired by the publisher. In each of Eiffel's books, the protagonist dies. To deal with the voice Crick futilely goes through therapy then ends up talking with a literature professor (Dustin Hoffman), who decides he has to determine whether Crick is in a comedy or tragedy to tell which author's book he's the subject. Simultaneously, Crick finds love. The film is full of gentle, subtle humor with touching moments that make this a rich, though quiet, emotional experience. Stranger than Fiction consists of the typical great-novel questions: life, death, love, time. It'll also change how you feel about getting flowers on a date. This is one of Will Ferrell's best roles, toned down, under control, and projecting just the right mix of bewilderment, pathos, and hesitant determination. Emma Thompson is brilliant portraying the desperation of an author with an endless case of writer's block. The cast also includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Linda Hunt, Tom Hulce, and that guy from the Sonic commercials. This is a film about authors, books, inspiration. How many movies mention Italo Calvino, third-person omniscient, and dramatic irony? Stranger than Fiction is one of the films I was thinking of when I came up with the idea of FilmLit -- a movie about writing, and the struggles of writing. Literate, intelligent, romantic.  🐢