Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Directed by Marc Forster from a screenplay by Zach Helm.
Starring: Will Ferrell (Harold Crick); Emma Thompson (Karen Eiffel); Maggie Gyllenhaal (Ana Pascal); Dustin Hoffman (Prof.), Queen Latifah (Penny).

This is a comfortable movie to watch because, although it raises issues that purport to prod you into examining your life, it is only a “movie,” an unreal fantasy that is separated from real life. Thus, it makes you think, but not so deeply that you want to kill yourself.

It is the kind of movie made of compromise, using a “new” style to tell an old story (boy meets girl) and sell an older moral (carpe diem). It is derivative as hell but charmingly acted so as to be palatable. The actors act as if accepting the premise of the joke and willingly participate in the subdued ironic mood, each with a slight knowing smile that lets you off the hook in case you were tempted to take them seriously.

The premise plays on the commonly held neurotic fear that we might be characters in some cosmic novel. Suppose a guy really was such a character, a really dull guy, now forced to examine his life because he discovers that the novelist intends to “kill” him. It permits some amusing musing on literary convention as metaphors for life. Is our life meant to be comedy or tragedy? Are we controlled by the “omniscient” creator, or can we direct own lives?

Because of the expenditure of energy on the cool premise, the working out of “plot” to realize it is a bit thin on newness. The character’s arc — from buttoned up IRS auditor to free spirited guitar player — impelled by his love of a Bohemian girl baker who teaches him to break the rules and eat cookies, is the oldest of romance movie forms.

This is certainly a “movie movie” which, while claiming a literary heritage, is really indebted more to movies. Charlie Kaufman’s films, “Adaptation”, “Eternal Sunshine..”, and “Being John Malkovich”, all will come to mind. So, too, Woody Allen’s “Purple Rose Of Cairo.” You can even reach further back to Pirandello’s “Six Characters In Search Of An Author.” And the resolution smells of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

Marc Forster was a decent choice as director. His previous experience with “Finding Neverland” showed a nimble visual handling of the creative process. (He was less successful with a not dissimilar variant — the psychodrama fantasy in which the action is played out in the protagonist’s mind — in the muddled “Stay”.) Here, he copies tricks with graphics that Spike Jonze introduced in “Fight Club” for the same purpose — to show how his character’s life is circumscribed by data. Otherwise, he plays it pretty straight, letting his actors breathe something like life into their characters.

Dustin Hoffman continues to show his limitations. His underplaying as a ploy for ironic wit tires and his line readings sound more like readthroughs than commitment. Emma Thompson is first rate as the novelist struggling with her duty to the character she created. Gyllenhaal has the intelligence and presence to make her character’s eccentricities seem interesting.

Ferrell surprised me. At first, he seemed to be simply following the familiar path of the dialed down comic who plays serious by flattening his affect. Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler are the latest clowns to try this. They deepen their voices, hide their smiles, narrow their shoulders — they are medicated crazies, made sadly dull.

But Ferrell actually draws some felt emotions as his character’s dilemma becomes apparent. His newfound self-awareness leads him to self-examination, love, change, and regret. He conveys these changes with some subtlety and credibility, although he never completely convinces us that his character is much more than that — a cipher, an everyman, who exists only in a movie.

Ferrell’s “Harold” and Carrey’s “Joel” (of "Eternal Sunshine") are both freed from their chains by the female lifeforces who love them. Ferrell’s likeability makes you root for him while Carrey’s edgier persona distances him. Which is more “real” is a matter of taste: I tend to think Carrey’s is the far more human.

Charlie Hoffman’s end lines voiced by Carrey are more in line with my understanding about how love works than the standard treacly compromise ending Zach Helm’s script provides. Joel tells Clementine that he knows they’re doomed to fail, but the trip is worth it even if it produces excruciating memories along with the treasured ones.

That's a nice twist on the happy ending.