Stranger Than Fiction
Erik Hyrkas
Issue date: 11/16/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
In the film "Stranger than Fiction", Will Ferrell plays an IRS auditor, Harold Crick. Harold usually has a simple, plain, and especially boring lifestyle, but one morning while brushing his teeth, he finds his actions are being narrated by a woman's voice. Who this woman is and why she is narrating are just two of the many questions he must face.
Through the journey of weeding out possibilities, we see Harold go first to a psychiatrist then onto a literary professor Jules Hilbert after his anonymous narrator explains Harold's unknown but eminent death. Jules is played by Dustin Hoffman and asks many insightful and ridiculous questions to help solve this suitably "Stranger than Fiction" enigma.
Even with Harold's new work inhibiting problem, it also brings him a new zest to life, helping Harold find his lost childhood dreams, and of course, a love interest. Harold begins auditing a bakery owner named Ana Pascal, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and a whirlwind of tragic and comedic events ensue whilst Harold pursues her.
Will Ferrell does an amazing performance in this film, but not in the way that you would think. Despite his many comedic roles, this is not one of them. Harold Crick is a serious character, an uninteresting IRS agent that finds a way to break out of his shell, and Ferrell nails it with dry wit and candor. Weirdly, there are also scenes that many would think to be standard Ferrell comedy shenanigans that turn out to be serious, as mood dampening music is played throughout.
Hoffman is good as always, but it's Gyllenhaal that steals the audience's heart. Playing an empathetic baker/tax refusing revolutionist, her cute and loving as well as spunky attitude breathes "want me."
The film is slow, not a lot happens, not a lot is said, and it is more of a non-fiction feeling movie in that sense. Nevertheless, it is an enlightening experience if not a hypothetical documentary of someone in the position of supernatural conflict.
Through the journey of weeding out possibilities, we see Harold go first to a psychiatrist then onto a literary professor Jules Hilbert after his anonymous narrator explains Harold's unknown but eminent death. Jules is played by Dustin Hoffman and asks many insightful and ridiculous questions to help solve this suitably "Stranger than Fiction" enigma.
Even with Harold's new work inhibiting problem, it also brings him a new zest to life, helping Harold find his lost childhood dreams, and of course, a love interest. Harold begins auditing a bakery owner named Ana Pascal, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and a whirlwind of tragic and comedic events ensue whilst Harold pursues her.
Will Ferrell does an amazing performance in this film, but not in the way that you would think. Despite his many comedic roles, this is not one of them. Harold Crick is a serious character, an uninteresting IRS agent that finds a way to break out of his shell, and Ferrell nails it with dry wit and candor. Weirdly, there are also scenes that many would think to be standard Ferrell comedy shenanigans that turn out to be serious, as mood dampening music is played throughout.
Hoffman is good as always, but it's Gyllenhaal that steals the audience's heart. Playing an empathetic baker/tax refusing revolutionist, her cute and loving as well as spunky attitude breathes "want me."
The film is slow, not a lot happens, not a lot is said, and it is more of a non-fiction feeling movie in that sense. Nevertheless, it is an enlightening experience if not a hypothetical documentary of someone in the position of supernatural conflict.
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