A Waste of Talent:

Rating: 4/10 (26 May 2007)

Let me start by saying hat "Stranger Than Fiction" is an awful movie. Period. The worst thing about it is not the plot, which is admittedly dull and drawn out. It is not the art direction and cinematography, which is still very plain and unoriginal. Nor is it the title, which is somewhat fitting in a strange sort of way. Though these things are not enormously positive, the worst part of "Stranger than Fiction" is the blatant way in which it wastes the talents of its capable cast and produces such a terrible final product.
"Stranger than Fiction" is the story of the life of Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrel. Crick lives an enormously dull life, and Will Ferrel can do little more than make him a somewhat likable, but intensely boring person. Was this the intent? I don't know, nor do I care. Watching the events of Crick's life play out, which we spend the entire movie doing, as about as dull and unoriginal as it sounds. The role is such a waste of Ferrel's talent. We see this problem a lot in the movie.
We soon switch between Crick and Emma Thompson's character in the movie, a best-selling author who's writing a book with Crick as the main character. Emma Thompson gives the writer such a soporific quality that she is even more unbearable to watch than Ferrel himself.
The other main characters to come out of the woodwork in the film are a tax-evader who falls for Crick (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a coffee-hounding scholar (Dustin Hoffman), and a boring publishing executive (Qujeen Latifah). None of these characters are remotely interesting except for Hoffman's, who is brought to life well by the veteran actor (no surprise there). The usually wonderful Gyllenhaal is lacking in every area except for gross-out humor (unintentional), when she and Ferrell...-well I won't ruin it for you.
This film is an overrated piece of trash that is as ridiculous as any comedy of its mold.