Stranger Than Fiction

Four of five stars. I think this one got mixed reviews, though Roger Ebert liked it, and I think I liked it more than he did. What's unusual is to have so many major stars in something that could just as well be an experimental "indie" film. It's also unusual to see a Hollywood film that plays with the audience's intelligence in a genuinely funny and human way, without becoming pretentious or excessively self-aware. Will Ferrell leads as Harold Crick, an IRS agent who discovers that he's actually the character in a writer's (Emma Thompson) almost finished novel, but that she's known for killing her main characters in imaginative ways. Bad timing, as Harold has just fallen in love with the tattooed baker (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who he's auditing. Now he has a reason to live, can he escape the trap he's in? What is an author's voice? Can a Latin style of mystical realism make sense in contemporary America? It can, and the result is absolutely charming. I hope Will Ferrell does more of this serious sort of acting, as opposed to the slap-stick he's known for, as he's definitely got the depth to carry it off.