As Intelligent as it is Enjoyable.

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2007)

I never thought I live to see the day that I would say, Will Ferrel is starring in a smart movie. So now that hell has frozen over (not really, but still) I can not understand why this film did not do better with the awards shows. I mean I saw Little Miss Sunshine because everyone was raving about it but I didn't think this film was particularly clever, or engaging I only thought it was a well constructed film that is ultimately pathetic because of it subject matter; a dysfunctional family who have no redeeming qualities outside of the fact that they stick together. Yet it is Little Miss Sunshine that gets the nod from critics and the academy.
The characters in Stranger than Fiction are normal 9 to 5'ers who go about living their lives as most of us do. There is our star Harold who is the boring IRS agent who needs to loosen up. Ana the baker who who recklessly tries to make the world a better place by not paying the IRS its full amount in taxes, (a hearty cheer from me for her stance on taxes). The Professor who decides to deduce the identity of the voice in the IRS agents head as well as acting as a life coach. And the Narator herself who is a brilliant author who kills off every character in her books. Like all great stories you want to be interested in the people you're devoting two hours to and all these characters have engaging personalities.
The characters all gravitate around the plot of Harold hearing the voice of the Nararator in his head. Through out the movie the film keeps you guessing whether Harrold really exist or is he a figment of the author's imagination and vice versa but it turns out that they both are real and this is a real situation. By the end of the film the story is not about the voice inside of Harrold's head but facing the truth of certain aspects and/or situations in these characters' lives. In the end both Harold and the Narrator both learn to be free of their ruts in life by stepping up and doing what is right and noble. In the end both mild manner Harold and the acclaimed author sacrifice their selves for the greater good and because of it you walk out of that film feeling better than when you left it.