Stranger Than Fiction

September 29, 2007 - Will Ferrell heads an all-star cast in this 2006 film about a real-life man who's trapped in someone else's novel. Emma Thompson plays the novelist. The cast also features Queen Latifah, Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS auditor with a compulsion to count. His orderly life is moving along just fine until the day his watch stops. Around this time, he meets Ana, a baker who catches his eye - and the eye of the IRS. Also around this time, he starts hearing a woman's voice in his head, narrating his life.

Turns out that voice belongs to Karen Eiffel (Thompson), an author with a penchant for killing her characters. Harold realizes that he is a character in her latest novel and that his life is being determined by her words. But, fortunately for Harold, Karen has a case of writer's block and can't figure out how to kill him.

Overall review: ** On a scale of 1-10, I'd give this movie a 5 or a 6, mainly because of the performances. The actors manage to rise above the ridiculous plot and somehow make you care about the characters. But, ultimately, I wanted to see a movie about Harold OR a movie about Karen, not a movie about Harold and Karen.