I had missed Stranger Than Fiction last year and caught it on Netflix recently. It was good, better than I expected but also different. Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick, a nice but boring IRS agent who's favorite word is "integer". One day he starts hearing a voice (Emma Thompson) narrating his life, as he brushes his teeth and walks to work, etc. He's the only one who hears the voice and it obviously is disturbing to him. He really starts worrying when the narrator mentions "his imminent death". After a visit to a psychiatrist (Linda Hunt) proves unfruitful ("No, no. It's not schizophrenia. It's just a voice in my head. I mean, the voice isn't telling me to do anything. It's telling me what I've already done... accurately, and with a better vocabulary.") he visits a literature professor (Dustin Hoffman).
Meanwhile he goes about his life which involves auditing a local baker played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She didn't agree with the policies of the government. He calls this anarchy, she's more like a post-modern hippie. Perhaps because of the narrator telling him his feelings, he falls for her. In a bit that was a bit confusing in the film but will work better in print, he gives her "flours".
The film makes no attempt to explain the metaphysics of what's going on, instead it gets a bit Zen in explaining that we all die and what matters is are you part of a good story and we should just live our lives. It's a romantic comedy that's more clever than funny and a bit deeper than typical Meg Ryan fare.
Maggie Gyllenhaal in the film has a rather large tattoo on her upper arm in the film and I couldn't find on the web if it was real or not. I saw images of her without it, but they were all from before the film. Anyone know?
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