Nov. 30, 2006

‘Stranger’ than your typical Will Ferrel movie

Jason E. Weber
weberj@marietta.edu

It seems that Hollywood enjoys presenting us with cheap entertainment. Whether it is with a “reality” film like “Borat,” a gruesome horror film like “Turistas,” or a stupid comedy like “Santa Clause 3,” the entertainment industry doesn't want to put forth the effort to make a truly quality movie. Luckily, I had the opportunity to see an exception to that rule over Thanksgiving break: Marc Forster and Zach Helm's “Stranger Than Fiction” which stars Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman.

The film is the story of Harold Crick, (Ferrell) a simple IRS auditor who one day finds himself the main of a work of fiction written by acclaimed author, Kay Eiffel, (Thompson). His simple life takes a turn for the worse when Eiffel's narration becomes audible and he hears a dooming “little did he know” statement predicting his imminent death. He then undertakes a journey to find the source of the voice, enlisting the help of Literature Professor Jules Hilbert (Hoffman) and with his newfound love interest, Ana Pascal (Gyllenaal) live out whatever time he has left without holding anything back.

The story is clever and smart and its’ execution lives up to the set up. Zach Helm's screenplay is full of witty jokes, sentimental moments, and enjoyable twists and turns. My main criticism of the film, however, lies in this last part. At times the movie became so convoluted that it the scenarios presented were more or less improbable. The movie sets forth the premise that both Crick and Eiffel are real people living in the same world. They even share a scene towards the end where Crick begs not to be killed. The exact power Eiffel has over Crick and reality is never clarified, nor is the nature of the reality of Crick. If he is real how is he also a character?

The movie seems to imply that she has killed many different “real” people by writing books, but the script does not go anywhere with that idea. It is as if all of the ingredents are there but nothing ever comes of them.

Luckily, this major issue can be forgotten if you focus on the well-executed love story between Crick and Maggie Gyllenhaal's character, Ana Pascal, a governmenthating baker that breaks Crick out his shell and encourages him to live a fulfilling life.

Although seen time and time again in nearly all popular romantic comedies for example “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and, more recently, “A Good Year,” this film gives it a fresh look with wonderful performances by both Gyllenhaal and Farrell that allow the audience to be truly drawn into thier relationship. In fact my favorite scene in the movie is when Farrell's character brings Gyllenhaal a cardboard box full of little paper bags of flour and unintentionally makes the pun, “I bought you flours.” The movie is full of moments like that, and it is what keeps the film lively and original.

Great as the screenplay is, I cannot talk about this movie without commending some superb acting performances. Both Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman portray their characters with a seasoned perfection that can only come from people who have given dynamic performance after dynamic performance. Thompson's Eiffel is fully threedimensional, showing sides of humor, struggle, and contentment.

Hoffman, too is very entertaining as he plays up the stereotypes of the college Literature professor walking around his office in bare feet and bantering about thematic concerns.

Still, never once does Hoffman allow the character to go to parody and we see a person who truly has a desire to help Crick and get to the bottom of the mystery. The focus of this movie, however, is on Will Farrell, who defies the role that we have seen him play time and time again by stretching his wings and gaining much needed street cred. His performance in this film may do what “The Truman Show” did for Jim Carrey” and “Spanglish” did for Adam Sandler. I am anxious to see what he does next.

Overall, the film was a very enjoyable experience. It was not the traditional Will Ferrell film that many of my fellow theatregoers expected, instead it was something better.

The film was witty, intelligent, and entertaining. I left the theatre with no regrets, and at $8.50 a ticket, that's saying something. This is truly an enjoyable piece of cinema that I encourage you all to go and see before they decide “Borat” needs a second theatre.