I finally watched Stranger Than Fiction last night. I loved this movie. Will Ferrell was wonderful as Harold Crick, an ordinary IRS auditor who begins hearing a woman (Emma Thompson) narrate his life, begins to believe (with the help of Dustin Hoffman, who plays a professor of literature) that he's a doomed character in her novel, and sets off on a quest to find her before she kills him.

There is a romantic comedy aspect to the film (between Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal), but it isn't the point of the film. Of course, if it were only a romantic comedy, it would be one of the more amusing ones I've seen in a long time.

Thompson was hilarious as Karen Eiffel, the successful author struggling to find a way to kill her main character. It brought back many happy (and not so happy) memories of NaNoWriMo. One of this year's writing challenges should be to use the phrase "little did he know" (or "little did she know") at least once in the novel.

The film had many little unexpected moments that made me laugh and made my imagination tingle. I had feared the narration would become an overused device, but it was used sparingly, which increased its comedic effect. I got a kick out of the diagrams and drawings that would occasionally overlay Harold's world, showing Eiffel's influence on it. And I dug the soundtrack.

As the movie and Harold neared their respective endings, though, a sickening feeling of inevitability started creeping in, something that doesn't happen too often when I'm watching movies these days. I was rooting hard for Harold to live, but was eventually overcome with the strangest sensation of acceptance, especially when he came to accept his fate.

I'll end with one of my favorite quotes from the film...

Psychiatrist: You have a voice speaking to you.
Harold: About me. Accurately. And with a better vocabulary.