Funny and insightful

Rating: 9/10 (7 March 2007)

Of all the films I've seen with Will Ferrell, I have to say that this is my favorite, so far. He is brilliant as Harold Crick, a highly organized (to the point of obsession)and somewhat forlorn IRS agent, who finds his tightly controlled life start to unravel one day when he begins to hear a voice narrating his life as though he were a character in a novel headed for a tragic end. This sets into motion an hilarious series of events that involve a somewhat bohemian baker (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and a Professor of English Literature (Dustin Hoffman), who together with the eccentric novelist (Emma Thompson) narrating him to his apparent end, bring him around to a fresh perspective on life. Granted there is a strong fantasy element here; the idea that a novelist creates a character that just happens to be real in every detail, and that he can actually hear her as she writes about his life, is of course, really "out there." Also, the idea that a bohemian baker can relate at all to a very conservatively minded IRS agent challenges also. But honestly, the film charms you so that you can't help but just go with it. This is no superficial comedy that is only designed to trip the funny bone, but is as entertaining as it is insightful about what it really means to live a happy, meaningful life.