Stranger Than Fiction: A Novel Film Posted by: Joe Tracy, Publisher

Have you ever read a book that was so good it was hard to put down? You think to yourself “just a little more – I have to find out what happens.” You’re caught up in the story and find yourself caring about the book’s main character as if he or she was a cherished family member.

Welcome to the world of Stranger Than Fiction, a drama with comedic moments about a character, Harold Crick, whose story you find yourself engaged in as you nervously await his fate.

Harold (Will Ferrell) is an IRS Agent who one day begins hearing the narrating voice of an author (Emma Thompson) typing her first novel in more than a decade. The author, however, is totally unaware that the character whose life she is molding actually exists in real life. She also doesn’t know that whenever she puts a period at the end of a sentence, the action she wrote becomes a reality for Harold.

It takes awhile for Harold to get used to the voice he hears and he soon gets to the point of virtually ignoring it until his life his thrown upside down when his wristwatch stops working and he asks a stranger for the time, resetting his watch. Suddenly he hears the author’s words:

“Little did he know that this simple seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death.”

Now Harold becomes passionate about untangling his life’s Web that someone else is weaving. He first sees a doctor (who wants to put him on meds), but eventually ends up discussing his adventure with a literature professor (played by Dustin Hoffman). Together they work on breaking down the walls of ink that are predetermining his fate.

What makes Stranger Than Fiction a good movie is it’s original concept. These days it’s hard to find a movie that doesn’t follow the formula of another; something that’s churned out of the “filmmaking cookie cutter mill”. Stranger Than Fiction is a drama, even though it has some comedic moments. The movie flows nicely and entices you to stay on the edge of your seat to see if this character can escape the death being plotted for him.

My favorite part of Stranger Than Fiction is when Harold tries to take his love interest with a baker he is auditing to the next level by bringing her a dozen “flours.” Creative moments like this make the movie all the more enjoyable.

Stranger Than Fiction is directed by Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) and written by first time screenwriter Zach Helm. It’s always nice to see a rookie score nicely with his first “published” screenwriting work.

The only complaint I have about Stranger Than Fiction is that the movie was shot and edited in a way that many people seeing the movie will see the boom microphone and cameramen in the picture if the projector showing the film has problems. This happened at our showing (for about two minutes of the movie – very distracting) and a simple Google search shows widespread complaints from moviegoers who saw the same thing. Most filmmakers are careful about this, editing their films to avoid the “safe area” boom mic from being seen even if a projector has playback problems. This is more of a technical complaint that, for me, added to the strangeness of the film.

Stranger Than Fiction is a movie I can definitely recommend when you’re looking for something a bit outside the normal cookie-cutter Hollywood experience. It is rated PG-13 for “some disturbing images, sexuality, brief language and nudity.” Oh… like the movie’s title suggests, that nudity may not be what you expect.