Stranger Than Fiction

Starring Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Directed by Zach Helm

Summary
The concept of Stranger Than Fiction is that of a man finding out that his life is the part of a narrative. Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) begins to hear a woman's voice narrating his actions. She describes his actions, his feelings, his longings, and his intentions. The problem is that he is the only one who hears the voice. All of this is midly annoying until the voice divulges that events are in motion that will lead to his imminent death. In response to this Harold recruits of the help of a literature professor in order to help guide him through the narrative of his life, and, in the process, learns about what it means to truly live.

Review
This was a very original and interesting movie. It could certainly be marketed as a comedy, but it had a very serious undertone to it. Similarly, Will Ferrell is a very talented comedic actor, but had a very serious undertone to him in the film. He did a fine job. Dustin Hoffman as the literature professor and Emma Thompson as the author are both great. Maggie Gyllenhall adds a great energetic flair to the film in her character (with whom Harold falls in love).
The strongest quality to the film is its story. Now, you might be thinking, "Isn't that the way it always is." No, no, no. Many times a film is driven by strong acting performances, eye candy special effects, or entertaining characters. This film had good acting and engaging characters, but it was plot-driven. The story was original, and the story dealt with, wait for it, stories. A man is in a narrative, and this begins to make us think about the idea of stories, the stories in which we are characters, what kind of character we are in our stories, and what kind of character we would like to be.
The movie is always building toward its ending, and I felt tension the whole time over how it would end. Interestingly, the tension was twofold. First of all, I wanted it to end well for the characters. Secondly, I wanted it to end well for the story. For the second part, I mean that I wanted the story to have an ending that was not just "happy," but also satisfying in light of the rest of the story. The ending is good for discussion. Some will probably love it, and some might be let down by it. Strangely enough, this is one of the only movies you will ever see that will acknowledge that some won't like the ending. This makes it more tolerable for those who will be disappointed.

Question For Thought
For the question to think about, I will quote my favorite exchange in the movie. It takes place between the literature professor and Harold. The literature professor concluded that Harold may just have to resign himself to the fact that he will end up dying. Harold then asks what he should do if he is going to die.
Professor: Well, Harold, you could just eat nothing but panckakes if you wanted.
Harold: What is wrong with you? Hey, I don't want to eat nothing but pancakes, I want to live! I mean, who in their right mind in a choice between pancakes and living chooses pancakes?
Professor: Harold, if you pause to think, you'd realize that that answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led. . .and, of course, the quality of the pancakes.
This exchange begs the question, "What is life? What makes life worth living? What am I willing to die for?" Are we willing to die to be "memorable" characters in God's story? Is this a bad question to be asking? Think about it.

Overall
You can probably tell that I really liked this movie. Very moving, very funny, and very, very thought-provoking. In a time when so many movies are formulaic, it was fun to watch a movie that had a very real flair of originality to it. See it with someone so that we can discuss it afterwards. There are a couple of comments made that are not appropriate, but overall it is a movie you can watch without feeling like you have to turn away or fastforward.

Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5 possible.