Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Known to most audiences for his hilarious characters, funnyman Will Ferrell continues to try his hand at more serious material with STRANGER THAN FICTION. The film comes as relatively light fare for director Marc Foster, whose previous works were FINDING NEVERLAND and MONSTER'S BALL. While not exactly a drama, the film shifts between humorous and heavy realms, one of its central questions being: "What makes a comedy or a tragedy?" In WINTER PASSING and MELINDA AND MELINDA, Ferrell awkwardly occupied a strange space that was neither clearly dramatic nor comedic, leaving audiences confused over whether to laugh at ...
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the actor or with him. Here, in the role of boring Harold Crick he appears a bit more at ease, as Harold is not expected to be funny--funny things just happen to him. Instead of depending on Ferrell for jokes, the film delivers laughs on its own by exploring what happens when an IRS agent with a dull, solitary life receives unwanted company in the form of an intrusive female voice narrating his every move. As distracting as this is, things become truly worrisome when the narrator (Emma Thompson as an eccentric author) informs Harold of his looming death.

How Harold's life changes as a result of this terrifying knowledge depends largely on wacky Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) and on tax-evading baker/love interest Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal). While Queen Latifah's role as an author's assistant is underdeveloped, Tony Hale brings an innocent charm as Harold's coworker and only friend. At times, the film's take on existentialist themes feels strikingly familiar, and is clearly influenced by features like ADAPTATION and I HEART HUCKABEES. Among its strengths, the film features interesting sets seemingly influenced by the 1950s version of the future, and functions as a small step forward for Ferrell.
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A socially isolated IRS agent whose every move is documented by a disembodied female voice discovers that his life is the subject of a book currently being written by a best-selling author, whose creative block has stunted her repeated efforts to kill him off, in a quirky fantasy comedy written by Hollywood hot property Zach Helm and directed by Finding Neverland's Marc Forester. 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 unu...
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sual 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. Penned by the screenwriter named by Variety magazine as one of the "Top Ten Writers to Watch" and who was also included in Esquire magazine's "Best and Brightest" list of 2004, Stranger Than Fiction features supporting performances by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, and Queen Latifah.
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Harold Crick is een belastinginspecteur, wiens leven overhoop wordt gehaald wanneer hij zijn levensverhaal hoort, door een stem die alleen hij kan horen. Deze vertelster, Karen Eiffel, is een schrijfster die haar laatste roman probeert af te maken, maar zij weet niet dat haar hoofdpersoon daadwerkelijk leeft en zijn leven via haar woorden plaatsvindt. Geheel wanhopig zoekt Harold hulp bij een excentrieke professor.

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