They are saying that “reality is stranger than fiction,” and whereas it is simple to see how this will typically be true, there may be one piece of fiction that all the time involves thoughts every time that phrase is spoken: Stranger Than Fiction. This 2006 fantasy-comedy-drama follows Will Ferrell‘s Harold Crick, a seemingly uninspired particular person who works for the IRS and lives a boring, uneventful, and unfulfilled life. However when Harold begins to listen to the voice of a mysterious narrator (Emma Thompson) in his head, he quickly discovers that he’s in a narrative (whether a comedy or a tragedy, he doesn’t know) and he’s about to die. Chances are you’ll not suppose that that is the kind of movie that might produce Will Ferrell’s strongest efficiency, however you’ll be flawed. The whole lot about this film proves that these types of roles are Ferrell’s greatest, and we wish to see extra.
‘Stranger Than Fiction’ Is Will Ferrell at His Most Profound
Stranger Than Fiction is profound, elegant, and easily enrapturing as we surprise how this weird flip of occasions will find yourself taking part in out. It is an important movie, and rewatching it once more for the primary time in years is simply as pleasant an expertise. However maybe the perfect factor in regards to the movie is that it showcases that Will Ferrell has such incredible dramatic range that, honestly, he ought to be forged extra in these extra severe, heartfelt roles. Certain, there may be nonetheless a component of comedy to his efficiency right here (little doubt why he was forged within the first place), however the emotional crux of Stranger Than Fiction lies in Harold’s want to reside and to like. With loss of life impending, Harold Crick adjustments his life. He makes new associates, falls in love, pursues his desires, and turns into the kind of particular person he all the time wished to be. Extra considerably, he turns into the kind of person who all of us wish to be. In truth, when he discovers precisely how he’s going to die, he chooses to take action anyway as a result of he acknowledges the significance of it.
As we see how earnest he’s in his affections for Ana (Maggie Gyllenhaal) or the way in which he valiantly makes an attempt to search out the girl writing about him in his thoughts, Ferrell instructions not simply our full consideration, however our emotional engagement. Whereas he may be most well-known for being a straight-up comedy actor, responsible for hits like Old School, Anchorman, and Step Brothers, it is a movie like Stranger Than Fiction that proves past a shadow of a doubt that Ferrell does, certainly, have the chops to drag off a heartfelt function that makes us giggle, cry, and soar for pleasure. Whereas Ferrell has definitely thrived in roles that mix comedy and tragedy earlier than (one may argue you see this to a much lesser extent in both Elf and, sure, even The Lego Movie), it is Stranger Than Fiction that emphasizes the comedy star’s capacity to be simply as spectacular in a dramatic story. Actually, it makes us crave extra from him.
What Makes Will Ferrell’s ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ a True Masterpiece?
Harold Crick is a compelling character as a result of he appears like each one in every of us. Okay, most of us in all probability aren’t IRS brokers who’re hated by most individuals, and never everybody can do psychological math at lightspeed, however that is not why Harold Crick feels so acquainted. It is the way in which he responds to this information of his impending loss of life (to not point out the unusual voice that has all of the sudden invaded his thoughts) that feels so authentically truthful to our shared human experience. Who would not surprise in the event that they have been going loopy? Who would not attain out to whomever they need to — together with a literature professor performed by Dustin Hoffman — to try to sort things? Who would not start to query the price, worth, and course of 1’s life? But, the character’s altruistic perspective in the direction of life, and maybe even loss of life, adjustments him profoundly. Stranger Than Fiction works so marvelously as a result of it permits us to know Harold so deeply, so intimately, that when he begins to alter his life and break away from the private traits and traditions that held him again, we are able to immediately see the components of ourselves that effectively, too, ought to alter.
One may discuss the way in which the movie is masterfully edited, the particular results that give us a good clearer window into Harold’s thoughts, and even the chemistry between Ferrell and Gyllenhaal (which is just exquisite), however that is all simply windowdressing to the attractive construction that’s Stranger Than Fiction. Screenwriter Zach Helm outdoes himself right here, crafting a story that feels, sure, unusual however not fully out of attain. The juxtaposing threads between Ferrell’s Harold Crick and Thompson’s Karen Eiffel are woven masterfully collectively, as each characters come to non-public revelations that fully shift the course of their lives. Harold learns to reside, he falls in love, and he willingly lays down his life for an additional. Karen acknowledges that tragedy is not all life should be, and that her personal energy to save lots of a life (even when it makes her subsequent novel, Dying and Taxes, far much less compelling) is much extra necessary than her personal important success. It is this selflessness that will really feel “stranger than fiction” to many, however it’s the crux of what makes this 2006 dramedy so spectacular.
Will Ferrell Wants To Pursue Extra Dramatic Roles With Extra Delicate Comedy
Whereas there are in all probability different actors who may have performed the half, nobody would have been as impressed a forged as Will Ferrell. The reality is, whereas Ferrell has dabbled in additional dramatic, severe roles since (akin to 2010’s Everything Must Go and 2020’s Downfall), none have fairly in comparison with Stranger Than Fiction. Perhaps it is as a result of the movie performs effectively to Ferrell’s distinct model of loud and obnoxious comedy (although used fairly sparingly) whereas particularly highlighting the identical emotive honesty he beforehand expressed in movies like Elf. It is no surprise then that even Roger Ebert once called Stranger Than Fiction “an uncommonly clever movie doesn’t typically get made…which requires us to enter the lives of those particular quiet, candy, worthy folks.” The critic went on to match Ferrell’s work right here to the likes of Steve Martin and Robin Williams, who had every confirmed themselves as able to dramatic work as comedy. In fact, he is proper.
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The Adam McKay motion comedy additionally stars Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Eva Mendes, and Samuel L. Jackson.
If Adam Sandler can break into meatier dramatic roles within the fashionable period, then there’s completely no motive that Ferrell could not proceed additional down this path himself. As enjoyable as heartfelt vacation flicks like Spirited, musical options like Eurovision Track Contest: The Story of Hearth Saga, or his different comedic works may be, Ferrell will not be fairly the key star he as soon as was. If he have been to pivot in the direction of roles like Stranger than Fiction as soon as extra, we may discover ourselves in a Will Ferrell renaissance that might defy all expectations. Nevertheless, even when Ferrell has no real interest in taking over a task like Harold Crick once more, the reality is that Stranger than Fiction is solely good, and is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime efficiency that merely can’t be replicated.
Stranger Than Fiction
- Launch Date
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November 10, 2006
- Runtime
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113 minutes
