Deadly fiction

Rating: 10/10 (29 May 2007)

Marc Forster, a man whose work we have admired before, has scored a major triumph with "Stranger Than Fiction". It helps he decided to tackle the amazing screen play that Zach Helm wrote for this project. Both men show to compliment one another in a winning film that unfortunately suffered at the box office. It's hard to imagine how the movie didn't attract more people because it deserves a viewing from anyone that considers to be a cinema fan. Part of the blame seems to be the perception that the lead actor, Will Farrell, was expected to deliver a character that was funny like most of the ones he had given in other vehicles.
Harold Crick is a man so meticulous he even counts the brush strokes he applies to his teeth every time he cleans them. He seems to be the right person for an IRS inspector. He is a joyless man whose life is numbers and audits. He has an incredible mind for multiplication, and yet, why is his life the mess it is? When Harold begins hearing the voice that seems to be narrating his life, he unravels. Harold decides to consult experts to try to help him getting to the bottom of what he is experiencing. Alas, the professionals he consults, never can give him an answer. It's only when he stumbles into a university professor who, upon hearing a phrase Harold has heard in his mind, to interest Prof. Hilbert to come to aid him.
It is at this time that one gets to realize that Harold Crick is a character out of the fiction of a reclusive writer, Karen Eiffel, a woman whose distinction is the ability to kill all her main characters in the novels she writes. The problem is that Karen is suffering from an acute problem of writer's block. In fact, she doesn't know how to kill this Harold Crick, who becomes her obsession. Karen Eiffel's life is a mess. Not even when Penny Escher comes to help her get out of her rut can she get out of her funk.
Harold, who finds himself losing the control he has always possessed, is rendered helpless when he goes to do an audit on Ana Pacal, a young woman who owes the IRS and refuses to file a return. Little by little, Harold comes to depend on his meetings with Ana, who in turn, sees all the goodness in the man she started hating. It's when Harold discovers he has found love that he decides to fight for his life and decides to confront the woman who seems to be pulling the strings that make him be who he is.
Will Farrell makes a wonderful contribution to the film. Like other comic actors, Mr. Farrell has to play against type in order to show his talent. This versatile actor should play more serious roles and break out of the mold his career was up to this point. Emma Thompson's Karen Eiffel is one of her best creations. She captured the world in which the author she portrays inhabits. Dustin Hoffman adds another layer of texture to the film with his Professor Hilbert. Maggie Gylenhaal seems to be a natural for the sunny Ana Pascal. Queen Latifah plays Penny Escher effortlessly. She's a marvelous addition in any film. Others seen in minor roles are Linda Hunt and Tom Hulce who do wonders with their small contributions.
Roberto Schaefer's cinematography offers a wonderful view of the Chicago where the film is supposed to take place. Ultimately it's Marc Forster for bringing all the elements together in this sunny and positive film.