Creative mix of cinema and literature

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2007)

Stranger than Fiction rewards you from the very beginning; you hear the voice of a woman narrator recounting every repetitious step in the life of IRS agent Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) while you watch his tedious life unfold on the screen. He rises exactly at xx:yy a.m., brushes his teeth precisely zw times, walks across the street at the cross walk careful to step on the white markings, catches the bus at such and such a time, etc., etc.
His actions are determined by a very special wristwatch that serves as his alarm clock and, really, his identity. Aside from the regimentation of the watch, the special effects wizards attend Harold's various movements with little white numbers of time or money calculations. Like images on a blackboard, only there's no blackboard, then when the formula is completed, the numbers and geometry crumble into nothing.
Then he realizes he's a character in a story...
There isn't a single false step in how the actors execute the characters and in how the director fulfills the artistic vision of the writer (Zach Helm). Indeed, the roles are perfectly cast, even Queen Latifah who carries herself professionally as the publisher's rep charged with breaking down Karen Eiffel's writer's block. But especially Ferrell. He's the perfect mixture of shyness, intelligence, and, yes, understated humor... like Peter Sellers in Being There, though certainly not on that scale.
...
For my complete review of this movie and for other movie and book reviews, please visit my site TheCoffeeCoaster.com.
Brian Wright Copyright 2007