has a good mix of whimsy and pathos, an excellent Ferrell performance, if less than stellar overall

Rating: 7/10 (14 November 2006)

I'd recommend Stranger Than Fiction, especially if you're a fan of its stars. It also speaks to a good career ahead for first-time screenwriter Zak Helm. That it also is that old, over-used statement- the parts more entertaining than the whole- is maybe in part attributable to an inherent structural flaw in the script. After I left the movie I did think about how a person's will may be dictated or not, or what really carries that man to do what he decides to do, or if he tries to do nothing at all (which Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell, does to no avail). Because the story itself is about contrivance, their is an ever-looming air of contrivance in the script too.
It's hard to explain exactly, and Helm was wise to avoid certain pit-falls, such as really giving a 'logical' explanation to how the narrator's writing sticks into Crick's head in the first place, or that it might not just collapse once writer and 'character' meet. But there's still some things that I found a little troublesome- for example, does the narrator dictate the little things that Crick does, or would Crick just do them anyway? What I mean is, how much is determined by what is written or not. There is also the air of questioning where these characters are outside of their set spots in the screenplay- and Crick, albeit not without some interest is not really the kind of character I would think would make for a great subject for a book by a presumably well-renown, recluse author (played in the best way possible in the one-note terms by Emma Thompson).
For the sake of Crick's central change from being very calculated, precisely so, early on, to becoming a man much more based on how he wants to live his life not based rigidly on structure- even in the structure of 'little did he know', which is kind of amusing as a writer myself- there is that sort of contrivance anyway. Yet at the same time, individual scenes are very well written though, and given fresh life by the cast.
Ferrell here, of course, is showing much more of his talents than usual, at doing much more of a grounded, every-day kind of guy who has the extraordinary happen to him. He's always convincing in the part, even in scenes that are awkward or made to really pull up more of his talents than usual. That I would still have a very slight preference for his comedy roles and skills as a satirist/performer may be just subjective, though this- plus his underrated turn in Melinda & Melinda- goes to relay how he can play genuine just as well as silly and fearlessly stupid. Hoffman, as the literature professor who helps out Crick through his crisis at points, is also very good, and their scenes together were some of my favorite in the film. Gyllenhaal works well too as the romantic side for Crick's change in self.
So really, it's a worthwhile trip into what was appropriately called by one critic as 'Charlie Kaufman-lite', as it goes to lengths to be an original work, but at the same time one can't help but know how things will turn out in the end, if only from the immense heap of circumstance given clairvoyance, or vice versa, and that it is, in the end, a work out of Hollywood. Marc Foster's direction does go for little odd touches to add to Helm's writing, such as numbers and lines and such on screen in fast fashion to show Crick's mind working in the form of his life early on.
And the watch means probably as much as the gold watch did in Pulp Fiction in the sense of what it will lead to for the character. That it doesn't feel though completely satisfying in its sort of original send-up is understandable, but partly forgivable; it's the kind of work that gives talented actors some fun and variety, and there are at least a few truly laugh-out-loud funny moments.