Normally, when you say the words “Will Ferrell” to me, I shudder, prompted by recollections of promo clips from BLADES OF STEEL and TALLADEGA NIGHTS. Not so when it comes to STRANGER THAN FICTION, a 2006 film starring Mr. Ferrell as well as Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Ferrell was absolutely brilliant.
I doubted the conceit would work: a man suddenly hears a voice in his head – and it turns out to belong to a writer, who is writing a novel about him. Ferrell’s character, Harold Crick, soon discovers that the book is destined to end with his death, and so he tracks down the writer (Emma Thompson) in order to save himself.
I’m a jaded viewer, the sort who tends to shout out what will happen next, because I’m always second-guessing the writer (and I'm often right). Rarely does a movie engage me – and STRANGER THAN FICTION was the delightful exception. Who would have imagined that an encounter between a writer and her creation could have worked? But Ferrell and Thompson pulled it off flawlesslly, and Hoffman, as a literature professor, is a delight. Two thumbs way, way up.
