it will break your heart then mend it**possible spoilers

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2007)

Normally, my renting of Will Ferrell DVDs is reduced to one mood: stupid comedy. I assume, now I know wrongly, that Ferrell is pretty much a one-note performer, and most of his movies while occasionally extremely funny are also pretty ordinary.
I was pleased to be wrong with Stranger Than Fiction. Actually, I saw hints of it in Bewitched--somehow, with a good haircut and some designer clothes, they managed to make him (dare I say it?) almost sexy and a leading man. But StF really opened up a different side of Ferrell. In addition to the comedy of the situation, Ferrell brings life and depth to Harold Crick. If anyone ever told me that I'd cry seeing Will Ferrell cry, I'd have thought they were nuts.
I'm a fan of unusual narratives, and I particularly love anything "bookish," or literary, whatever that means. And much of what directs me to movies is my fascination with narrative, which Stranger than Fiction delivers with grace, warmth, and spirit.
Stranger than Fiction is the story of Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), an ordinary man leading a very lonely life. He's an IRS agent, and fills his days with numbers and order. When he meets a baker, played by the always-adorable Maggie Gyllenhaal, things start to look better for him. But there's a problem: he thinks he's going crazy, because he's hearing a voice, narrating his every move. "Accurately. And with a better vocabulary," he notes to a psychiatrist. As it turns out, he is the main character in a novel by Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), a British writer who writes beautiful tragedies, but has run into writer's block.
It's a fine, brainy, sweet piece for any actor, but what surprised me is that Ferrell actually CAN act. Who knew? What makes the movie so likable is the relationships between its central characters, particularly Ferrell with Dustin Hoffmann (a literary professor trying to solve the mystery of who's writing Harold's life), the artsy-cynical Thompson with Queen Latifah (an assistant hired to help the author make her deadline), and Ferrell's scenes with his newfound love, Ana. One heart-melting moment was Ferrell's serenade, after having learned just one song. I also enjoyed Hoffman's witty, understated performance, particularly the scene where he breaks the bad news: for the book to be a success, Harold will have to die. Rounding out the stellar cast are some funny cameos from Kristin Chenoweth as a BookTV interviewer (check the DVD extras), and Linda Hunt and Tom Hulce as a pair of befuddled psychiatrists.
On the down side, I found myself comparing the writing to Charlie Kaufman, which is inevitable. Unfortunately, StF is not quite up to the standards set by either Adaptation or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. As long as you try to forget you ever saw a Kaufman film, Stranger than Fiction sets a high standard--hopefully, we'll get to see more of this Will Ferrell in the midst of the Anchormans and Talladega Nights.