Stranger than Fiction
When you're an armchair philosopher, it's hard not to like a movie like Stranger than Fiction. Similar to I Heart Huckabee's in its quirky tone, this film, starring Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson, brings an existential sort of playfulness that we "artsy" movie-goers like. Sartre would probably object to the use of "existential" and "playful" in the same sentence, but seeing as how he died just as postmodernism was surpassing existentialism as the sexy philosophical trend of the day, he--or his decomposed corpse--will have to make peace with the irony. I'm not in the habit of apologizing to dead French philosophers, in any case, for liking a movie like this one.
Stranger than Fiction tells the story of an exceedingly boring IRS agent, played by Ferrell. His life fits every stereotype of a government bean-counter--a meaningless routine of protocol and precision. Harold's dreary existence is interrupted one morning when, while methodically brushing his teeth, he hear's a woman's voice. This woman, who speaks with an enchanting British accent, not only recounts the process of Harold's life in perfect detail but also tells of his inner thoughts. At first, Harold thinks himself crazy, but soon he understands that he is the character in a story. The voice is that of his narrator.
The inimitable Emma Thompson plays the neurotic writer who must finish her next novel, of which Harold is the main character. Composing the appropriate conclusion to the novel is driving her crazy. A severe case of writer's block prevents her from finding the right ending to the story--which must involve Harold's own end. And this is where the existential tragicomedy takes off. Here I shall not spoil the rest of the movie, but leave it to you.
It's a clever film, well written and superbly directed. A stellar cast bolsters it further, including Maggie Gyllenhall as Harold's love interest, an archetypal foil to the by-the-book IRS auditor. Dustin Hoffman proves that literature professors do have value in life. He plays a scholar of literary theory who comes to Harold's aid--providing more guidance than any psychologist could. This role is oddly quite similar to the one Hoffman played in I Heart Huckabee's as the existential detective. But he plays it well. Thompson is, well, Thompson. She is one of the finest actors alive, and her performance in this movie once again demonstrates her mastery of nuance and minute details.
The biggest surprise is Will Ferrell's performance. I am no fan of Will Ferrell's, and I consider the time I spent watching Anchorman to be one of the greatest wastes of my life. It is hard not to be skeptical of actors who come from the school of stupid humor when they try to crossover to more serious roles. Jim Carrey pulled it off in The Truman Show, but not all of his subsequent attempts have been as convincing. Adam Sandler's Punch-Drunk Love was a pitiful attempt to follow in Carrey's footsteps, and I'm amazed that it got as much positive buzz as it did.
Typically, actors like Ferrell, Carrey and Sandler are unable to tone it down. They are accustomed to playing over-the-top characters in films whose humor depends on blatant and boorish gags. More sophisticated comedies require them not to force themselves beyond the bounds of the character they are playing. Whereas Ferrell seemed entirely incapable of pulling subtlety off in Bewitched (oh, poor Nicole Kidman!), in Stranger than Fiction he strikes exactly the right balance. Ferrell eschews outlandishness, even at moments where you expect him to give into the temptation. Throughout the movie, he keeps it under control. Instead of Will Ferrell trying to be funny, we get to see the underlying humor that is inherent in the story. But that humor can only emerge through the restraint of the actors. In turn, restraint yields irony, which is the outcome of this man's absurdly, boring life.
A friend of mine, who is a retired philosophy professor, couldn't stand I Heart Huckabee's. His reaction surprised me at first, but I suppose if you are a philosophy professor, watching Hollywood muck up the intricacies of existential thought might be painful--just like real doctors cringe when watching medical dramas like E.R. or Grey's Anatomy. Moreover, there is now something rather unoriginal about movies trying to be so original. Really, we've seen it all before: The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I Heart Huckabee's, Stranger than Fiction. All these films plays with our ontological presuppositions and challenge us to reexamine our perceptions of life, and the moral tends to be more or less the same--and far more saccharine than anything Sartre or Camus would have written.
But just as armchair doctors like medical dramas, armchair legal eagles like courtroom dramas, and armchair spies like a good espionage drama, we armchair philosophers will probably continue to gobble up existential comedies like Stranger than Fiction. If I wake up to have Emma Thompson narrating my life, I certainly won't mind.
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