Taking a page from the work of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, Zach Helm’s screenplay about a man who keeps hearing a narrator in his head is brought to the screen by director Marc Forster (MONSTER’S BALL) as both a parable about living one’s life more fully and the tormented process of a writer. It’s really not as innovative an idea as Kaufman’s ADAPTATION or BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, but the film is intriguing with solid performances from the entire cast, especially lead Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Harold Crick (Ferrell, ANCHORMAN) is an IRS auditor, who pretty much wakes up, goes to work, comes home, goes to bed and then repeats the process all over again. He meticulously plans out his day on a perfect time frame. One day he starts hearing a voice in his head that is narrating his actions. When the voice warns him of his emanate death, he is frightened and turns to literary expert Prof. Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman, RAIN MAN), who tries to determine if Harold is in either a comedy or tragedy. Meanwhile, Harold is assigned to investigate the case of baker Amy Pascal (Gyllenhaal, WORLD TRADE CENTER), who only paid part of her taxes because she objects to paying for things like wars. Of course, she hates Harold at first, but soon falls for his innocence and dry wit. As this is going on, writer Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson, DEAD AGAIN) is looking for a way to kill the main character in her next novel, which happens to be Harold Crick. She is a very depressive type, who isn’t too receptive to her book publisher strapping her with an unwanted aide named Penny Escher (Queen Latifah, CHICAGO).
Outside of some interesting graphical treatments of the world around Harold that show how his mind is always doing calculations, the film is fairly straight forward about its premise. Forster plays the material realistically without the more odd visual flares of Spike Jonze’s MALKOVICH or Michel Gondry’s Kaufman-penned film, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
Helm’s script plays the various angles of the premise nicely, hinging on the classic conundrum of what would you do if you knew you only had a short time to live. This idea is combined with the strange God complex of writers and their decisions to kill or save their characters. We watch as Harold tries to figure the source and ultimately how to stop the voice. Staying at home doesn’t work. Going about his normal routine does work either. But when the worlds of Harold and Karen collide unexpected things happen. Helm doesn’t go for the easy solution or the hard one, but finds a satisfying middle ground that enhances the story and personalities of both Harold and Karen. I also liked how the relationship between Harold and Amy is played out. Adversarial relationships that turn to love are common in films, but they are often tough to pull off. One either never buys the bickering or never buys the two people coming together in the end. Helm makes us believe why Karen would be hostel toward Harold then turn around in the end. He develops her personality in a way that makes sense for her to want to make peace with the evil taxman. The only character that isn’t fleshed out enough is Penny. Queen Latifah is wasted in a thankless role of the dutiful assistant that is really only there so that Karen has someone to talk to.
This life-affirming tale is original and smart. With the success of Kaufman’s work, it has allowed screenwriters to throw off the shackles of conventional narrative and go for something slightly more fantastic and yet deal with real emotions. STRANGER THAN FICTION uses its high concept premise to lure the viewer into a common human tale of opening up and living. Harold Crick is an everyman who is put in an extraordinary situation. The admirable way in which he acts should be inspiring to everyone.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
