Stranger Than Fiction

The Thin Line Between Fiction and Reality

          While most people watch a movie for the entertainment, I watch them for the creative writing. One of the best movies I have ever seen would have to be the 2006 version of Stranger Than Fiction. Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an auditor for the IRS. One day he hears a voice narrating everything that he is doing. This voice ends up effecting his entire life and even his death. After learning to live in the moment, he changes his life from his job to romantic relationships. From the phenomenal actors, lovable characters, to the unbelievable writing, this is one of my favorite movies.

          Stranger Than Fiction revolves around Harold Crick, an auditor for the IRS, who lives off his wristwatch. Everything he does is timed exactly and is on a routine schedule. One day he goes to audit a baker by the name of Ana Pascal. Quickly, Harold develops a romantic liking for Ana while she ends up hating him. When Harold begins hearing the narrative voice, he completely turns his life around. He than learns how to play the guitar, takes a long vacation from work, and stops paying attention to his meticulous daily rituals and in doing this, he finds pure joy and satisfaction. Harold breaks free from his comfort zone and asks out Ana Pascal. To his delight, she accepts. After seeking council from a Literature Professor, Harold finds out that he is the character in a tragedy by a famous author named Kay Eiffel and she kills her main characters. He than realizes that she is going to kill him without knowing he is real. After running around searching for her, he finds her only to realize that she has written his death. SPOILER ALERT!!! Harold is told by Kay that his death will be very memorable and extremely poetic which comforts him. He does not want to know how he dies but he realizes that he has to know. Harold gets on a bus and reads the entire novel of his life straight through. He enjoys the book and decides that he needs to die because the ending has so much meaning in it. He than goes on living his life knowing he is going to die the next day.  The following morning, Harold arrives at his bus stop three minutes early because someone gave him the wrong time. He sees a child fall off of his bike in the middle of the street and saves them from getting hit by a bus. Instead, Harold is hit by the bus and is rushed to the hospital.  To his surprise, Harold wakes up in the hospital only to learn that a piece of his wristwatch saved his life by blocking off an artery so he would not bleed out. Ana Pascal is reunited with her boyfriend in the hospital and, a great amount of comic relief occurs and than they all live happily ever after.

          First, the quality of writing in Stranger than Fiction is unbelievably good.  All the conflicts and dialogue bring up interesting questions that makes the viewer think about their reality.  These situations are something that very few wonderful movies do well. The viewer puts themselves in Harold’s shoes and tries to think of what they would do in his situation. Would you let yourself die if you knew you could stop it? Also, Stranger than Fiction brings up another question that boggles the mind; are we all just characters in someone else’s book? There is no way to prove that we are or are not. Unlike the movie, we cannot hear a narrator speaking about us. 

          There are some things in Stranger Than Fiction that I do not like very much. I do not think that Ana would instantly fall in love with Harold after he brought her flowers. To me that seems highly unrealistic because she loathed his very existence and could not stand being anywhere near him. Within a half an hour, they were kissing and cuddling on a couch. 

          Also, I feel like the ending would have been a lot more poetic if Harold did end up dying from getting hit by the bus. I do not usually fully enjoy movies when they have a cheesy happy ending. I feel that a good movie can have a more realistic ending and leave the viewer with a sense of happiness. Kay Eiffel said in the end, “But if a man does know he's about to die and dies anyway. Dies- dies willingly, knowing that he could stop it, then- I mean, isn't that the type of man who you want to keep alive?” If you look at the story with that quote in mind, than I would have to agree with the ending. It is the courageous, brave people that you want to keep alive in a story and let the others fade away.

          This movie may raise philosophical questions about our reality. Are we truly alive or are we just characters in someone else’s story? Both sides can be argued and debated on, but in the end, the choice of what to believe is for everyone. Stranger Than Fiction did a wonderful job at making the viewer think after the movie was over. Few movies try to do this but only a few succeed. Inception, Momento, The Matrix, Donnie Darko, Seven, and the Number 23 are a few of my personal favorites when it comes to philosophically thinking movies.

          I strongly relate to this movie because it always seems like the person you like the most in life ends up not liking you... or the other way around.  It was only after Harold burst out of his comfort zone that he asked Ana to go out with him.  Because he did this, the one person who strongly disliked him became the person who loved him the most. 

          After Harold begins hearing this narrative voice predicting his coming death, he begins to realize that the life he is living is not very fulfilling. This struck a chord within me because I wish that for a small period of time, everyone would realize this and do what they truly wanted. People would travel across the globe, ask out the girl of their dreams, learn new things, and change lives forever. Instead of this, we live our sheltered lives, trying desperately to stay within our comfort bubble.

          I wish at times that I could read the story of my life. The book would leave out all the boring, depressing parts that nobody wants to hear about and it would tell all of the highlights of my life. It would be a fond way to recollect memories and events.

          Will Ferrell has played basically the same character in every one of his movies. He is always a little awkward, always crude, and always hilarious. He has been in hit movies such as Austin Powers, Zoolander, Old School, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. Although, Stranger Than Fiction is a movie far from the rest for many reasons. First, the movie was written for Will Ferrell to play the character and not to be himself in another funny movie. The casting for this movie was a bit of a risk, but choice definitely paid off because Farrell played the character very well. I now have no doubt that he is a good actor. He may play the same roles in most of his movies, but he has the capability to play dramatic roles as well. 

          Stranger Than Fiction is one of the best movies I have seen, and it is also one of the most overlooked. The movie was considered to be average when in reality it is way above average. The dialogue is phenomenal with tons of witty comments by all the characters. The writing, scripting, acting, and editing are all very well done as well. Sadly, Stranger Than Fiction won no awards but was nominated for a few and is usually under looked by most people. While the ending may not ideal, the movie is still considered a huge success in my eyes.