Quite Good (little did I know)

Rating: 8/10 (2 April 2007)

IRS tax auditor, Harold Crick (Ferrell) is a character in a story being written by author Kay Eiffel (Thompson), but he can hear Kay's voice telling him, in the third person, what he has already done since he got up in the morning. We assume that, as Kay speaks, she is typing as well. All gets worse when Kay lets slip that she is looking for a way to kill off Harold Crick in the novel. Harold hears this and is now more than worried. Who wouldn't be?
Little did I know that I would ever be praising a Will Ferrell movie, but that is exactly what I am doing. Finally, he is doing what he should be doing and that is acting in a dramatic role (selling cars was my second choice for him). His performance is perfect. There I said it.
Dustin Hoffman, as a literary analyst, is always good in his dead-pan way. Emma Thompson shines as the author, who constantly searches for a way to end her novel and the life of (gulp!) Harold Crick; and Queen Latifah, does a good, but understated, job as a literary enforcer trying to get Kay to finish the novel for the publisher. But, we fell in love with a baker: Maggie Gyllenhaal almost at first sight and Harold falls for her too and doesn't want to die. We just hope her tattoo's are washable.
Yes, there are some laughs in here - very subtle ones - but nothing memorable to write about. And, "little did I know" is a clever catch phrase in the story and you will see how it's tied in.
This movie should win, hands down, for Original Screenplay and writers and authors will take note and understand the concept of parallel universes which would offer an infinite number of events. So be on the lookout for copycat writers using a mix between fictional characters in a story and real people. To analyze this any further would get us into time travel, chicken or the eggwell you get the idea. We should get some interesting reading and maybe a movie or two.
Actually, I did know that Will Ferrell would be good in a dramatic role. I have always said that. An Oscar nomination for him? Um, maybe. Will I get a finder's fee? Hmmmm Probably not.
Violence: No, Sex: No, Nudity: Yes, backsides only as characters pass within a men's shower on the way to the swimming pool, Language: Yes, I think I heard Hoffman drop an F Bomb