Stranger Than Fiction

by Scott Gleine

Stranger Than Fiction is a delightful surprise from start to finish.  It is a film filled with humor, melancholy, wit, and poignancy.  Somehow this film has actually managed to find a way to be heartwarming at times without coming off as annoying or heavy-handed.  The various themes and profound musings on life are nothing new, but it is the way in which they are presented throughout the endlessly clever script, written by newcomer Zach Helm, that allow them to resonate.  It also helps that the film is exceptionally directed by Marc Forster and features top notch performances from a talented cast.  And yes, that includes Will Ferrell.  Not to reiterate what many reviews have already said, but his performance is a career best and far different from his previous “goofy” comedy roles. 

The quirky premise is utterly implausible, but Forster keeps the story grounded in reality, thus making it easier to allow suspension of disbelief to take over.  Harold Crick (Ferrell) is an IRS agent with next to no social life who is caught in a boring and obsessive daily routine.  One day, he begins hearing the voice of popular writer Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) narrating his life as he goes through said routine.  It’s just annoying at first, but then the narrator reveals that Harold is about to face his imminent death.  Naturally, Harold freaks out and does whatever he can to find out what is going on.  This leads him to a literature professor played by Dustin Hoffman who tries to help Harold figure out what kind of story he is in and how to handle it.  Along the way, there is also a blossoming romance with a banker named Ana (Maggie Gyllenhaal) whom Harold is auditing.  Any further explanation of the story would ruin everything.  

The entire cast that surrounds Ferrell is terrific.  Gyllenhaal once again proves her ability to be a natural, believable person on screen no matter what she is doing (note: I have not seen World Trade Center yet, nor have I seen all of her films, so I might be wrong).  Her chemistry with Ferrell benefits greatly from this because their romance is somewhat secondary (yet essential) to the main story, so the audience has to quickly buy into their moments together or else the whole thing wouldn’t work.  Hoffman is wonderful as Professor Hilbert, a man so into literary theory that he has taught entire classes just on the phrase “little did he know…”.  The scenes between Ferrell and Hoffman offer some of the smartest, funniest moments in the entire film and it is refreshing to see Hoffman in a role like this, even if there are some slight similarities to his existential detective in I Heart Huckabees.  For Arrested Development enthusiasts such as myself, there is a small yet entertaining performance from Tony Hale as Harold’s awkward friend and co-worker.  Possibly the best performance in the entire film comes from Emma Thompson.  It just doesn’t seem as great as Ferrell’s work because everyone expects Thompson to give a remarkable performance no matter what.  Karen Eiffel is a complete emotional mess, a neurotic and depressed writer who spends most of her time in her sparsely decorated apartment thinking of interesting ways for a person to die.  Thompson is able to capture all of the necessary nuances in her facial expressions and gestures alone.  Pay attention Academy, here’s one for your typically weak Supporting Actress category.

Her character’s unintentionally omniscient involvement in the story leads into the film’s exploration of the concept of writer as God.  This idea is touched upon just enough to be interesting without taking too much attention away from the narrative.  It is alluded to the first time we see Eiffel, in one of Forster’s most memorable directing flourishes.  After a crane shot pulling up into the sky as Harold curses the heavens (frequently shown in the trailers and promos), we cut to a shot slowly ascending Eiffel’s body and eventually revealing that she is standing on the edge of a building, overlooking the people of the city.

It’s moments like that which push Stranger Than Fiction above typical mainstream cinema into something much more dense and enjoyable.  Of course, it’s not quite in the same head trip league as the work of Charlie Kaufman, which many reviews are inappropriately comparing the film to.  In my opinion, it’s closer in style and theme to the work Woody Allen was doing from the late 70s to the mid 80s.  It even comes complete with a main plot device that is out of the realm of possibility and never given an actual explanation, though there doesn’t really need to be one (i.e. The Purple Rose of Cairo).  Stranger Than Fiction is fun and witty with excellent performances and strong directing from Marc Forster (who seems to be pretty hit or miss - maybe he just needs the right scripts).  Though it might not be the kind of film that blows everyone away, it’s quite refreshing to see that there is still an interest in good storytelling out there somewhere.