With its musings on free will and God, the story may not be original, but caring about its hero is automatic for the audience. That's more than most movies can say.
Comment
11/10/06
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
72
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:165
Fresh:119
Rotten:46
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: A fun, whimsical tale about about an office drone trying to save his life from his narrator. The cast obviously is having a blast with the script, but Stranger Than Fiction's tidy lessons make this metaphysical movie feel like Charlie Kaufman-lite.
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $40,137,776
Synopsis: One morning, a seemingly average and generally solitary IRS agent named Harold Crick begins to hear a female voice narrating his every action, thought and feeling in alarmingly precise detail.... [More]
Starring: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman
Director: Marc Forster
Reviews for Stranger Than Fiction
81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
It has a nifty premise and outstanding performances from Ferrell, as the protagonist-in-progress, and Emma Thompson, as his blocked creator.
11/10/06
Stranger Than Fiction may not be the typical crowd-pleaser, but it's a sweet, funny, intelligent film that showcases just how much Ferrell can do, even when he's doing less.
11/10/06
Stranger Than Fiction is odd and eccentric, but in the end it finds its heart. After all, if there’s hope for a drone like Harold Crick, there’s hope for all of us.
11/10/06
Stranger Than Fiction might be film, but it moves like a novel: a literate, unhurried tale marked by softly wrought reflections on the self-made life.
11/10/06
So, in lieu of the usual cookie-cutter movie, we at least get the cookie itself, a nice-light treat.
11/10/06
Much as it strives to be an intelligent story about intelligent people, Stranger Than Fiction is basically Adaptation for Dummies.
11/10/06
A wondrously funny modern fairy tale, Stranger than Fiction manages to blend romance, satire and fantasy into a story that's both fully satisfying and patently absurd.
11/10/06
A comedy that takes itself too seriously to be truly enjoyed.
11/10/06
While some of the film's literary motifs and devices might at first be a bit confusing, on whole it's pretty amusing and rewarding — and certainly one of the better vehicles to star Will Ferrell.
11/10/06
[Director Marc] Forster's sweetly engaging concoction bends our minds without too much strain, and even those moments that feel mildly familiar never breed anything close to contempt.
11/10/06
Will Ferrell delivers a moving and surprisingly delicate -- though not so surprisingly funny -- turn as the lonesome bureaucrat bedeviled by a voice only he hears.
11/10/06
Stranger Than Fiction just might be the most cunning comedy of the year.
11/10/06
Stranger Than Fiction is uptight. [Writer Zach] Helm is clearly pro-love and happy endings, but he's short on loose, fresh ideas.
11/10/06
Besides being inventive and witty, Stranger Than Fiction is a tribute to the power of literature. But art is not its only domain. It also delves into the world of ultimate certainties: death and taxes.
11/10/06
Top CriticWhile Stranger Than Fiction traffics in a bit of darkly funny existential anxiety, it also finds room for romantic fantasy and sentimental uplift.
11/10/06
Top CriticTake a cool premise, a smart director and a top-flight cast, then throw an ex-TV sketch comedy knucklehead into the mix - and voila, a thinking person's dramedy that grapples with issues of fate and free will, love and liberation. Look out, Oscars.
11/10/06
Stranger Than Fiction is a poetic and thoughtful rummage through the cosmic closet with a comic actor best known for less intelligent fare. Now that's stranger than fiction.
11/10/06
If Stranger Than Fiction has a central flaw, it's overly sentimental. Although the story would work better as a tragedy, Forster and Helm can't resist tacking on a mushy love story, involving Crick and combative tax cheat Ana Pascal.
11/10/06
It's feel-good for real, uplifting in a meaningful way, and I loved it.
11/10/06
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