Fun, quirky, clever!

Rating: 8/10 (6 December 2007)

This is a fun, quirky, clever little film and it's an off-the-wall character study that'll let you appreciate cinema that tiny bit more and will almost certainly go down as a cult favourite among selective film fans. Directed by Marc Foster (Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland) and written by Zach Helm (currently making his Writer/Director debut with Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium) Stranger Than Fiction makes its presence felt from the outset with various cinematic conventions and rules being toyed and played to help create the films own individualistic style. The film tells of a companionless tax man (Will Ferrell) who one day becomes aware of his imminent death via the narrator (Emma Thomson) in his head, he seeks literacy advice from a professor (Dustin Hoffman) who advises him to discover if he's in a comedy or a tragedy to which he does by attempting romance with a baker (Maggie Gyllenhaal), once this is established it then becomes his sole purpose to discover his fate and ultimately contact the narrator to prevent it.
Charlie Kaufman (Writer. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich) was my primary thought at who could have written such a film as it is very Kaufman-like, but unfortunately Stranger Than Fiction does lack some of the more punchier/out there moments experienced in his films. Where Stranger Than Fiction does supersede his work, despite its arguably depressing storyline, is in its ability to remove any feelings of a nihilistic nature and replace them with a warmer, more endearing, optimistic and emotional attachment.
Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman all put in brilliant performances and to be honest these are the sorts of performances I would like to being seeing more of, especially Ferrell as I feel that this film does for Ferrell what Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind did for Jim Carrey. The two films are very similar and, if push came to shove, the latter being more accomplished one, although that shouldn't detract anyone from Stranger Than Fiction as in its own right it is a very good, engaging film.