One of the interesting things to watch with actors is the desire for comedic actors to be taken seriously and for serious actors to be seen as comedic. On one hand, I applaud their desire to stretch out their talents to new realms, but on the other hand it does cause some bad movies. Will Ferrell took his turn with a dramatic role with Stranger Than Fiction. And while it isn’t great, it is an interesting idea with decent execution and a wonderful cast. So, what is the movie about?

There have been plenty of stories where a character comes out of a book or movie (such as Purple Rose of Cairo) and Stranger Than Fiction plays with this convention. But instead of a character coming out of a story into reality, a real person finds out that they are a character in a book. Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick, a boring middle aged IRS agent, who starts hearing a female voice narrating his life. After a few days of this happening, he decides to go see a literature professor Jules Hilbert (played by Dustin Hoffman) who takes Harold seriously enough to investigate. They accidentally stumble across the voice on an old interview and it is Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) a writer who is stumbling through some writer’s block.

Karen is trying to finish up a book on an IRS agent and she’s trying to figure out how to kill his character off at the end of the book. When Professor Hilbert points out that Karen Eiffel usually kills off her main character, Harold knows he has to get in touch with her to save his life. At the same time, the quandry has caused Harold to take a leave from his IRS job and spend some time living life. He starts seeing a bakery owner (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who he has been auditing and also learns to play the guitar. The question of free will comes up at this point. Is Harold doing these things because he wants to make a change in his life or because Karen Eiffel has written him this way? When Harold and Karen finally meet up, Harold has a tough decision to make. Harold’s decision is the most heartbreaking parts of the movie.

Ferrell does a wonderful job underselling his character to make himself into a quiet, mild-mannered accountant. The only time you see the overbearing Will Ferrell character come through is when Harold thinks he’s going crazy from hearing the voice. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson do great jobs supporting Ferrell and bringing the seriousness of Harold’s dilemma come through. The movie is good more than great and I’m still not sure Ferrell was the right actor for the main character. He does a good job, but it doesn’t always work. Also Queen Latifah as Karen’s new assistant Penny is good, but her character seems to be there solely to allow Karen to have someone to talk to. Overall it’s worth watching and has a great concept. The execution is a little off, but it’s still a fine movie. Recommended.