"Stranger than Fiction"
Directed by: Marc Forster. Starring: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Queen Latifah.
"Stranger than Fiction" is the story of the beyond ordinary life of Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell. Crick leads a very orderly, timely life. He lives by his watch, its alarms signaling every movement of his day. His job as an IRS auditor allows him to maintain that lifestyle. Everyday, he wakes at exactly the same time, brushes his teeth the same number of times, and completes exactly the same number of tax files at work.
One day his ordinary life is interrupted by a voice. An English narrative voice which Harold says speaks, "with a better vocabulary." The voice appears and then disappears in such a way that drives him madder than if it were not there at all. From the moment the voice appears Harold's life changes. He's unable to do his work and he's distracted in everyday life. Most importantly, his normal routine is thrown completely off. When the voice let's Harold in on the fact that he's going to die, he sets out to find out whose voice it could be and what it means. He meets up with Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), an English Professor who at first believes Harold has lost it. But eventually he gets more interested in the voice, and tries to help Harold track it down and figure it all out.
What's really interesting about this film is watching Harold transform from a creature of habit to a slightly more spontaneous person. There isn't anything inherently wrong with having a scheduled, tidy life, where nothing out of the ordinary happens and you've got it all figured out. However, it's not realistic that that sort of reality can stay stable forever. Eventually something, in this case a narrative voice, will transpire to disrupt such a planned existence. And whether we greet these interruptions as welcome or unwelcome circumstances, the fact is that things happen that we have no control over and that we can do nothing about. It's something we can all recognize within our own lives, and it's interesting to watch someone grapple with the transformation from a life of structure to a less predictable existence.
Story: A-
Acting: B+
Visuals: A-
Originality: A-
Enjoyability: B+
Overall: A-
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