Delightful Comedy

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2007)

A quirky but thoroughly charming little film, 'Stranger than Fiction' finds humor in the mundane and celebrates individuality. This unusually sentimental story finds Will Ferrell at the top of his game, while the film's supporting cast lights up the screen wonderfully. It's funny, it's heartbreaking, and it'll win you over in a heartbeat.
Harold Crick lives a simple life. He lives and works with numbers, and never sways from his precise and calculated schedule. All this will change, however, the day he begins hearing a voice. A voice that will narrate all that he does... and informs Harold of his imminent death. Little does he know, this is actually the voice of Karen Eiffel, an author whose writing block is preventing her from killing the main character in her new book. The character? Harold Crick. The real Harold is now in a race against time to understand what's happening to him, and along the way, he will meet new faces who help him learn a thing or two about life, love, and his own mortality.
Like Harold Crick, 'Stranger than Fiction' is a simple film. All it asks of you and me is to suspend our disbelief for a couple hours and open our minds, however illogical the film's premise may be. Other than that, the film's charm will do the rest. It's such a heartfelt and well-meaning film, it's easy to get pulled in and caught up. It's fast-paced with an intelligent script which packs on the quick and witty dialogue that underlines many of the movie's fantastic performances. Almost everything 'Fiction' does is spot-on. From its dry humor to eloquent narration to its theme about mortality and life. And though it's a movie, it's as poetic as a book as it unfolds right in front of us. A very good book at that.
The key to such a character driven film such as 'Fiction' depends overwhelmingly on the workings of its cast. And for the record, the talent that assembled to work together on this project couldn't have been better. It's difficult to see a physical comic like Will Ferrell in such a subdued role, when he's usually so... in the moment. He's a great actor, and his role here is definitely among his best. But for some reason, I think I like him better when he's being his outrageous usual self. Maggie Gyllenhaal delivers another fine performance as always, and yes, even after the year she had in 2006, she remains criminally underrated. Go figure. Queen Latifah is delightful as ever, her presence as an actress continues to be striking and impressive. But I believe many will agree when I say that the highlight of the film comes from veteran actors Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Both find themselves at the top of their game with their respective roles, they're so delightfully funny and happen to be the perfect touch to top off this tender film.
One of 2006's most pleasant surprises, 'Stranger than Fiction' is a winning offbeat dramedy. Its message of living life to the fullest is one we've heard time and again, but it's presented in an original and effective way this time, handsomely wrapped as a little fable of a comedy. A film like this is worth seeing for its phenomenal character actors, who bring this film to life in great fashion.