Involving Story & Great Low-Key Performance By Ferrell

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2007)

Most times, I find it interesting to watch a comedian pay a dramatic role. Here, will Ferrell plays an extremely straight, low-key character: an IRS agent who is part of a as strange story. Yes, the title to this movie is 100 percent accurate: "Stranger Than Fiction really describes this bizarre tale of a man whose life is being lived out as a writer of fiction stories types it up. In other words, the fiction writer's main character is a real-life guy.
Emma Thompson comes out of semi-retirement to play the role of "Karen Eiffel," a writer whose novels always end up with the hero getting killed. Also, she narrates the story to the lead character, who is the only one who can actually hear her voice. Slowly, as the story unravels, her latest subject, a "Harold Crick" (Farrell) discovers what is going on and tries to get her to change the ending! Along the way, in a secondary part of the film (the romance angle), "Crick" becomes involved with the unlikeliest of women: "Asa Pascal" (Maggie Gyllenhall).
Crick also makes a new friend who is an expert on authors. He seeks him out because that guy, "Professor Jules Hilbert," (Dustin Hoffman) is the one who helps him discover whom the author is, the person who plans to kill him off. (It's not easy to explain all of this in a handful of sentences, written off the cuff. Sorry.)
This all may sound like a suspenseful thriller but it isn't. It's a human-interest story which could have many interpretations. I read a few long reviews (not here) on this movie afterward and got two very diverse viewpoints: one with religious overtones and other totally secular. I didn't read anything into this except it being an interesting and original screenplay and well- acted.
Ferrell was outstanding in his performance. I'm not really a fan of his irreverent comedies but I was very impressed with him in this movie. The only unlikable character was Thompson's but she comes around with a nice touch near the end.
If you are looking for something different, and something to get your brain working a little bit, this is recommended. For those expecting the normal Will Ferrell wackiness, stay away: it's hardly that. I hate to use the cliché phrase "thought-provoking," but I think it applies here.