Will Ferrell's best performance (except for maybe Starsky & Hutch)

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2006)

Definitely cut from that "out there" cloth of Charley Kauffman (ADAPTATION, BEING JOHN MALCOVICH), STRANGER THAN FICTION is a more accessible film. Harold Crick (an understated Will Ferrell) is an IRS agent living a bland life of quiet desperation that's narrated by Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson). Little does he know that he's the main character in Eiffel's latest novel. Luckily, this isn't one of those "writer makes fictional character do dumb things" films a la Rob Reiner's ALEX & EMMA but a fun mix of narrative fiction and schizophrenia.
When a psychologist (Linda Hunt) can't help him, Harold goes to a literature professor (Dustin Hoffman, also thankfully understated) who tries to determine what genre Harold is living. There's also a romance along the way with a baker that Harold is auditing (Maggie Gyllenhaal) that feels a little undercooked. Queen Latifah is also along for the ride in kind of a wasted role and apparently Tom Hulce is somewhere in this film but I just can't remember seeing him in it.
I'm not usually one for Will Ferrell films but was glad to see him playing it relatively straight here. There were very few yelling fits or broad physical comedy. It's actual more of a "serio-comic" performance and, as long as he doesn't go around moping if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination, he could teach Jim Carrey a thing or two about how to easily pass from comedy to dramedy without delving into crap like THE TRUMAN SHOW or MAN IN THE MOON.
Whatever you do, don't watch the preview for this one, though, as it gives away quite a few of the film's finer moments.