Directed by:
Marc ForsterScreenplay:
Zach HelmCinematography:
Roberto SchaeferComposer:
Brian ReitzellCast:
Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson, Tom Hulce, Linda Hunt, Christian Stolte, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrew Rothenberg (more)VOD (3)
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Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) lives a life of solitude. Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson) can't seem to find a way to finish her latest book. Though Harold and Kay have never actually met, their fates are about to become intertwined in a most unusual manner. With her publishers growing increasingly impatient with her apparent inability to put the finishing touches on her latest novel, Kay is assigned a new assistant whose task it is to help provide the creative push needed to get her book finished and into the hands of her many eager fans. The subject of Kay's novel is a lonely and despairing IRS agent named Harold Crick, who believes that his life has lost any real meaning. As Kay continues to weave Harold's woeful tale without realizing that her protagonist is actually a living human being unable to concentrate on his life and career due to the constant interference of the narrator who inexplicably seems to anticipate his every move and read his every thought, her continued efforts to kill her perplexed subject finally provide him with the incentive needed to fully experience life by seeking out the source of the voice that plagues him. (Columbia/Sony)
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Reviews (11)
I'm pretty amazed at how overrated this film is. I was expecting much more fun, but the result is just an ordinary dramatic love story, cut with a quite original, but drastically underused, idea about a man who is both real and a character in the novel of an author who is about to kill him in the final book. Unfortunately, the central element is not used at all, and jokes are spared as much as possible – not only did I not laugh out loud once, but I literally didn't laugh once during the entire film. And that's quite a problem for a comedy. What I liked is the quality acting duo of Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Ferrel has a very serious role, very unexpected for him compared to his current black humor troll work. All in all, it's a mere drama without a hint of humour or a more substantial use of the main idea, which, although going very much against the grain, bored me madly...
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One of my greatest film experiences of the past year, with excellent acting and a top-notch original screenplay. It is a film about fate, about dying, and about love for life, but presented in a comedic form. The acclaimed writer, who reflects her constant depression and suicidal tendencies in tragic novels, where she ruthlessly destroys her fictional characters, has no idea that her latest protagonist, a dry tax official without imagination, has a real-life image and, by a twist of fate, the writer begins to control his future from above. However, her protagonist hears the story of his life, realizes that his perspective is probably not very joyful, and tries to defy his fate. Forster's movie is full of absurd dialogues, clever directing elements, and truly black humor. Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal are very good in the lead roles, but the biggest star is Emma Thompson as the British writer. The scene where she goes to the hospital for inspiration on how to send off her fictional character from the world, and is dissatisfied because she sees many seriously ill people but none of whom are dying, and she pesters the staff to show her someone about to die, represents, in a way, the pinnacle of how far you can go in terms of black humor in a mainstream film. Stranger Than Fiction is a film based on the game between the individual characters and between the director and the screenwriter on one side, and its audience on the other. A clever piece that doesn't come around often. Overall impression: 95%.
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A fresh and novel existential love story primarily intended for nerds and intellectuals. Despite its relatively normal running time, the film feels too long and plodding. The screenwriter plays with the viewer quite well, but many scenes are unnecessarily drawn out. The uncompromising ending also fails to deliver.
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Creator-chameleon Marc Foster has again chosen a subject that we wouldn’t expect from him - a variation on The Truman Show. And, as usual, he filmed an outstanding picture that is like all of his previous ones, although it trips up a little with the not completely kosher ending. However, this time this comes after such a gush of originality, playful narrative techniques, disarming ideas and visual tricks that it doesn’t really matter. Everything here is like clockwork - the actors is outstanding, the screenplay too and if you add to this the sure-handed and ingenious directing, it’s hard not to fall in love with this story about this boring guy, Harold Crick. Despite the ending which I would have preferred if it had come a few minutes sooner.
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Just as the current trend in comedies is to showcase the enlightening transformation of an cold office fish into a human being and throw in some chick as a bonus, so Stranger Than Fiction reeks of a spasmodic attempt to define itself against that type of comedy, even though the basic synopsis is the same. Indeed – a bored guy with a face, Will Ferrell, working in the IRS and having no contact with anyone picks up a tattooed, impulsive, left-wing baker, Maggie Gyllenhaal. How many times have we seen this – Fight Club, Yes Man, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Wanted,... Which sucks, because the main idea of blending a literary with a real character is actually a promising one, and the film is even funny and endearing at a few moments. Unfortunately, though, it somehow doesn't bring anything new to the table.
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Gallery (24)
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