STRANGER THAN FICTION (Marc Forster, 2006) ***

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2007)

While I had greatly enjoyed  and admired  Forster's previous film, FINDING NEVERLAND (2004), it took some nudging from the owner of my local DVD rental outlet to catch this film! His turned out to have been good advice as I found it to be quirky, delightful, intelligent and original; somewhat in the vein of ADAPTATION (2002) but with a more optimistic outlook.
I had never watched any of Will Ferrell's star vehicles before, but he really nailed every facet of his character here (and was thus a deserving Golden Globe nominee); similar care has been applied to the supporting cast: a charming Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman (who had also appeared in FINDING NEVERLAND), a slightly overstated Emma Thompson and Queen Latifah (who, surprisingly, keeps a reasonably low profile throughout).
Ultimately, though somewhat overlong, I feel that STRANGER THAN FICTION was perhaps more deserving of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay than LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006)except that it wasn't even nominated!  but, at least, the quality of Zach Helm's work has been recognized by being one of the 5 finalists for the WGA (Writers' Guild of America) award, while the National Board Of Review deemed it the year's best.