Wonderfully unique

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2007)

I was never a huge fan of Will Ferrell's. To me, he's just like Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler in that he hasn't outgrown adolescent status when it comes to his sense of humor. However, seeing him in Wedding Crashers, The Producers, and Talladega Nights recently forced me to appreciate the comedic talent that he's been hiding. And now, with Stranger Than Fiction, Will Ferrell has forced me to acknowledge that he can act. And quite well, too, which was a very pleasant surprise. Luckily, the movie was just as good as he was.
Playing Harold Crick, an IRS agent without a social life who counts his toothbrush strokes each and every morning of his life, Will Ferrell is marvelously understated. Some critics have said he underplays Crick to the point of boredom, but I think he leaves enough of himself to keep us entertained. And even with that, the plot and characters around him are so amusing and intriguing it wouldn't have mattered if Crick were dull.
The story kicks off to a start within the first five minutes as we embark on Crick's daily routine, narrated down to the very last carefully counted step on his way to work by Emma Thompson, a suicidal writer who is authoring her next book about Crick and his humdrum way of living. However, Crick hears her voice dictating his every move and is upset by this- naturally. Especially when he hears Thompson predicting his premature death.
Forster deftly balances Harold's impending doom with his discovery of the joys of life, most importantly in Ana Pascal, a baker played by Maggie Gyllenhaal (wonderful and fiery), who at first hates Crick and his IRS background but then grows to love him. Through Pascal, Harold learns how to enjoy life outside of his job, which he never enjoyed in the first place. The genius of Stranger Than Fiction is that it manages to take matters of life and death very seriously while at the same time finding much light in simple everyday facets of the world such as cookies or a kiss or a good book. I'm not sure how you combine existentialism and compassion in the same movie, but Forster and Ferrel and Co. pulled it off in a very creative way.