fun, poignant, and quirky

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2013)

Will Ferrell is an IRS auditor living a life that is "Stranger than Fiction" -- in fact, it is fiction -- in this 2006 film also starring Emma Thompson,Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Queen Latifah.
Ferrell is Harold Crick, a smart auditor who lives his life on a strict schedule and leads a sterile life. One day he starts hearing a voice narrating what he's doing. He appears to be the only one hearing it. It upsets and annoys him, so he sees a psychiatrist (Linda Hunt) who sends him to a literary professor (Hoffman). The professor says the first thing to decide is if he's in a comedy or a tragedy. Crick is sent to audit a bakery owner, Ana Pascal (Gyllenhaal), and the two end up falling for one another.
Elsewhere, a well-known author (Thompson) is sent an assistant (Latifah) by her publisher because she needs help finishing her book. Her character, Harold Crick, needs to be killed off, and she can't figure out how to do it.
Meanwhile, the narrator in Harold's head reveals that he's going to die, and Crick recognizes the narrator's voice on a TV interview. Learning the name of the author, he sets out to find her to ask her to change her book.
Wonderful story of a man learning to live just at the point he's going to be killed off, and it's filled with humor, sweet moments, and poignancy. Author's characters coming to life is not a new plot, but the way "Stranger than Fiction" is handled is very fresh.
A terrific cast doesn't hurt -- Will Ferrell isn't always fabulous, but he pulls off Harold Crick very well. Maggie Gyllenhaal as the defiant baker who doesn't mind paying taxes but won't pay any taxes toward defense, is wonderful - hostile and later caring and sweet. Thompson is one of the finest actresses around. As a woman in the midst of artistic crisis, tortured by trying to bring her book to a close, she gives a strong performance. Her best scene is in the hospital -- she's there because she needs to be in touch with death for her book -- and she asks a nurse where the people who are going to die are. "These people are injured," she complains with a straight face, "and they'll be okay after you help them. Where do you keep the people who are going to die?" Hoffman and Latifah in supporting roles are excellent, both bringing humor to the situation.
Definitely worth seeing with a fine script by Zach Helm and good direction by Mark Forster.