Kaufman-lite, but Forster's best film is charmingly good

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2006)

I saw "Stranger Than Fiction" because the trailer made the film seem awfully intriguing and, despite Will Ferrell's appearance, it also starred Emma Thompson and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
I realize the studio decided to sell this film as a comedy. And it is. But also is much more. It's heartwarming, fantastical and maintains a certain sweetness that, as cynical as I am, I found incredibly appealing.
The story's hook: Renowned author Kay Eiffel (Thompson) is penning her latest book in which her protagonist is a chap named Harold Crick (Ferrell). However, unknown to her, Crick is an IRS auditor in real life and can hear her narration in his head and that drives him bonkers.
What follows is a wonderful film that unwinds unexpectedly and slowly, allowing us to know and appreciate not only Kay and Harold, but also supporting characters, including a literature professor Jules (Dustin Hoffman) and a bakery-story owner Ana Pascal (Gyllenhaal), who proves to be Harold's object of desire.
It is inevitable that Zach Helm's screenplay would draw comparisons to Charlie Kaufman's works, "Being John Malkovich" (1999), "Adaptation" (2002) and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), which is one of my favorite films. I suppose it is unfair to compare Helm to the incomparable genius that is Kaufman.
So, though Helm seems like Kaufman-lite, "Stranger Than Fiction" is helped immensely by four superb performances and it's premise: The responsibility of at. How many good films could you say you've seen about that topic? Ferrell - who is best in small doses, which is why I've never really enjoyed his starring roles all that much - is finely subdued as a man slowly becoming unhinged as he realizes his fate. Ferrell never overacts - I know, that's shocking to believe, but true - and his goodness and kindness serves the story very well. I wish he'd take on more roles like this and fewer Ron Burgundys.
Thompson makes a welcome return to the screen - I know she was in "Nanny McPhee" (2005) and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004) - but she's back playing a normal person. Kay's a woman with writer's block, desperately trying to figure out how to end her novel. She knows how it will end, but doesn't know how exactly, if that makes sense.
But the star of the film is Gyllenhaal. She truly is one of the most gifted and talented actresses working today, someone who completely takes over a film with her charm and uncommon beauty. Here, she's Ana who's being audited and turning Harold's love life upside down. She wins us over with a minor role.
The questions Helm raises in his film are intelligent ones about art, love, life, responsibility. If there's a flaw in the film, it is the ending. The ending is a compromise. And I couldn't help but think it felt something handed down by a studio exec. I don't know. Or, perhaps, Helm, realizing that he needed to make his film more appealing to the masses, compromised at the very end. He does seem to make it work, though the other possibility would have been excitingly intriguing, trying to see if the characters could get out of that one.
However, the compromise aside, "Stranger Than Fiction" works beautifully. Despite it's fantastic ideas, it never seems forced or false. We buy the premise and are taken along for a delightful ride. I always thought Forster's other, better known, films, "Monster's Ball" (2001) and "Finding Neverland" (2004), were a tad over-rated. With "Stranger Than Fiction," however, he proved me wrong. He's made one of the best films of the year.