Stranger Than Ferrell.

Rating: 10/10 (24 September 2015)

Stranger Than Fiction (2006): Dir: Marc Forster / Cast: Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Queen Latifah: One of the most original films of the year with a grand view of living life to the fullest. Emma Thompson plays an author struggling with writer's block. Her novels are tragedies often ending in death. Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick who suddenly hears her narration because he is a character in her latest book. He seeks help in dealing with this narration and learns that she is planning to kill the character, meaning himself, off. Director Marc Forster deserves credit for mastering such brilliant material. Ferrell is superb as the tax auditor whose life is routine until he is faced to embrace life and opportunities. Thompson demonstrates the frustration of an author trying to place ideas to paper and then facing the reality of life and death. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a baker whom crick is auditing and whom he gains affection for. She has a passion for cooking and people yet fights mindless taxes. Dustin Hoffman plays a literary professor assisting Crick in placing his situation as to whether he is in a comedy or a tragedy. Queen Latifah has a nice role as someone assigned to assist Thompson with her book to please the publisher. Result is a meaningful clever comedy presenting a fantastic portrait of life presented more delicately than fiction. Score: 10 / 10