Review of “Stranger Than Fiction”
Ever had that feeling that your life was just a story, written by someone else? What then if you found out that the author had a habit of killing the characters off? This is the delicious premise behind Stranger Than Fiction, a delightful and ingeniously constructed romance from Marc Forster, who also directed Finding Neverland and Monster’s Ball.
Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is a man who finds comfort in precision and routine. A tax auditor with highly tuned mathematical skills, he observes and counts everything around him – his steps, the number of brushstrokes made when cleaning his teeth, and the minutes of his lunch break. We learn about Harold from the voice of a traditional story narrator, the voice of Emma Thompson. But when Harold starts hearing her voice too, he is, quite understandably, confused. When he then realises that this voice is about to orchestrate his death, he has no option but to become a character in search of his author, and see if he can change the story from a tragedy to a comedy.
In many ways Stranger Than Fiction is Dennis Potter or Charlie Kaufman for beginners, and those who revel in the complexities of plots like The Singing Detective or Adaptation may find that writer Zach Helm has sacrificed depth and insight for comedy and romance. But the comedy is very funny and the romance (between Ferrell’s ordinary yet touchingly tender auditor, and his anarchistic client Ana, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) is beautifully written. Indeed one of the many strengths of this film lies in the genuine warmth and vitality of all its characters. And for those who love puzzles, writer Helm has also embedded the script with references to mathematics.
Ferrell and Gyllenhaal are superb, slowly bringing their two completely different characters into the same orbit. They are matched with equally excellent supporting performances from Thompson and Dustin Hoffman, who plays a professor of literature, navigating Harold (and us) through the rules of narrative theory.
The production design (influenced by Jaques Tati’s 1967 classic Playtime) is flawless and places us somewhere between urban reality and a whitened, tightened story-world complete with labels and captions. The film’s soundtrack features a host of classic and contemporary punk guitar songs – many from Spoon.
Stranger than Fiction is a mainstream must-see, a delightful romantic comedy, and one that reminds us that it’s the little things in life that really matter. The voice in your head should be telling you to see this.
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