Stranger Than Fiction ***
Cast: Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah
Director: Marc Forster
Running Length: 1:53
MPAA Classification: PG-13

Harold Crick (Ferrell) is an IRS agent who sees numbers everywhere in his daily life. He leads a boring life, and is somewhat content with it. Then, one day, he begins to hear a voice narrating his life. The voice does not belong to God, but to author Kay Eiffel (Thompson). She does not write books that end well for the protagonist, and one day Harold’s voice tells him that he is going to die soon. He seeks out help from a literary professor (Hoffman), who does not entirely believe him. Meanwhile, Harold is auditing Ana Pascal (Gyllenhaal), an banker who he quickly falls for. Now, he has something to live for, and solving the problem of the voice and its prediction becomes extra important.

Will Ferrell is great as Harold. He is a likeable everyman. His humor is never over the top, and he handles the drama quite well. He is the glue that holds this movie together, and deserves recognition for the role. The supporting cast is good, never taking away from the focus of the film. The story itself is an interesting idea, but perhaps the ending was a bit of a cop-out. It did not feel right to me, but that is a small quibble for an otherwise enjoyable film.