Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Director: Marc Forster
Format: Blu-Ray
Disk Features: ??? (please submit)
Starring: Will Farrell, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Late in the 1990’s there was a movie called The Truman Show. The movie was based on a number of ideas from different books. One book was Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick. Laugh all you want at the name, but the man is a fantastic author. Regardless, the basic premise breaks down like this: main character is living in an artificially constructed world, oblivious of the outside. One day, the cracks in the walls begin to appear and the illusion falls apart. Well, Stranger Than Fiction has a touch of the same idea.

Harold Crick (Farrell) is a middle aged auditor for the IRS. He leads a very calculated lifestyle, brushing the same amount of strokes each morning and walking the same speed to the bus stop at precisely the same time. Aside from being very mathematical, Crick is also very lonely. As you might imagine, IRS auditors aren’t very popular. One day, however, a wrench is thrown into the clockwork of his life, in the form of a mysterious voice, narrating his every action. It becomes particularly disturbing to Crick when he hears it predict his eminent demise.

After becoming dissatisfied with professional psychiatrists, he decides to seek the aid of a literature professor. Professor Jules Hilbert (Hoffmann) analyzes his predicament and tries to help him determine what type of story he might be in. Meanwhile, Harold falls in love with Ana Pascal (Gyllenhaal), the owner of the local bakery whom he’s auditing. It seems that learning he’s going to die has given him a new outlook on life. At the same time, author Karen Eiffel (Thompson) is in the depths of an alcoholic despair, attempting to find a way to kill off the main character in her new book, little realizing that her Harold Crick is a living man.

There were two computer aided effects in Stranger Than Fiction that I was quite fond of. During Crick’s introduction, lines and graphs and diagrams appear over the scene to enhance the description of the calculations in his life. I thought that they were a clever touch, without being terribly intrusive. The other effect was Crick’s wristwatch, which is a character unto itself and figures strongly into the plot. The little clockwork has an adorable personality, but isn’t annoying or overdone.

Although Will Farrell has been very prolific as of late, starring in movies like Anchorman and Talladega Nights, his brand of humor has never appealed to me. His characters are usually well meaning morons. In Stranger Than Fiction, that aspect of his character isn’t as pronounced and I found it more bearable that way. With the semi-seriousness of the plot and the balance of the other great actors, it wasn’t hard to enjoy Farrell at all. Emma Thompson is stellar, as usual. I love her morbidly fascinated alcoholic author role and also enjoyed Queen Latifah as her assistant, Penny Escher. Hoffman didn’t disappoint either, although this type of role for him is getting a little tiresome.

Not nearly as depressing as I was led to believe (I’m looking at you Seanchez), Stranger Than Fiction was a solidly enjoyable film. It’s humor is much more subtle than movies like Old School and yet it isn’t so dramatic as to sink your mood. Think quiet evening at home with a bowl of popcorn.

Overall Rating: 3 ½
Hottie Rating: 3 (for Maggie Gyllenhaal – hello Secretary!)

Alternate Viewing: Punch Drunk Love
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IMDB Site
James Berardinelli review

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