By Robert Scucci
| Updated
For a while, Will Ferrell seemed like a one-trick pony after his legendary run on SNL because he succumbed to being typecast as the resident sillyman thanks to his bombastic and over-the-top delivery as an often clueless man with a disproportionate amount of confidence. Conversely, Ferrell has proven his ability to take on dramatic roles as seen in 2010’s Everything Must Go and 2020’s Downhill, demonstrating that he knows how to play it straight when the opportunity presents itself. Perfectly bridging the gap between both on-screen personas, Ferrell surprised me the most with 2006’s Stranger than Fiction, the romantic comedy drama about an IRS agent who falls in love with a baker who doesn’t pay her taxes because she hates the government.
Knowing just when to keep a straight face, and when to lightly lean into his usual shtick when the moment’s right, Ferrell’s performance in Stranger than Fiction is a testament to fact that he knows exactly how to read the room and dial in whatever kind of delivery he needs to get the job done and properly service a dramatic screenplay that’s not without a sense of humor.
Little Did He Know…
Stranger Than Fiction sees Will Ferrell’s Harold Crick living a monotonous life as a dutiful IRS agent, and it’s quickly made apparent that he can crunch numbers in his head at an intimidating level, making him an excellent auditor and model employee. Despite his high-level talents at a clerical level, Harold lacks social tact, as he’s spent his entire adult life embodying an “all work, no play” mentality. Everything changes for Harold when he starts to hear the voice of a British woman narrating his life in great detail, and with a better vocabulary than he possesses himself.
When Harold is tasked with auditing Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Ana Pascal, his social awkwardness is in full-force because he’s immediately attracted to the tax-dodging baker, and can’t help but sneak glances at her figure when he pays her a visit. Naturally, this “ogling” rubs her the wrong way and establishes the adversarial dynamic between Harold and Ana.
Meanwhile, Harold has a meltdown when he resets his wristwatch and the narrator says, “Little did he know that this simple, seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death,” leading him to believe that he’s on the verge of a psychotic break.
Consulting An Expert
After Harold refuses to believe Dr. Mittag-Leffler’s (Linda Hunt) assessment that he’s in a psychotic state, he seeks out Dustin Hoffman’s Professor Jules Hilbert, an eccentric literary expert who eats books for breakfast. While Professor Hilbert at first also has very good reason to believe that Harold has a screw loose in Stranger than Fiction, he has a change of heart when Harold recites the “little did he know” passage. By chance, the TV playing in Professor Hilbert’s office is broadcasting an old interview with Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), the famed yet reclusive author who’s known for killing off the protagonists in her books.
Harold is certain that he’s hearing Karen’s voice in his head, which doesn’t bode well for Professor Hilbert because that means he may actually be a character in her upcoming and highly-anticipated novel, and things won’t end well for him.
Knowing that death is waiting for him as soon as Karen finishes her book in Stranger than Fiction, Harold decides that he has nothing to lose, and pursues Ana with romantic intent, with mixed results. While for the first time pursuing his desire to be something more than just an IRS auditor before he meets his grisly, yet-to-be-written fate, Harold and Professor Hilbert work together to track down Karen, who they both assume hasn’t finished her latest book because she’s suffering from an intense bout of writer’s block.
Comedy Drama Perfection
Stranger than Fiction sees Will Ferrell’s Harold Crick coming to terms with his own mortality as he tries to figure out whether his life is a comedy or tragedy, and his naive yet well-intentioned advances toward Ana make for some awkward moments that lead to comedy gold when the two finally begin to hit it off. The one sequence that sold me on Ferrell’s ability to make you laugh during awkward moments is when he hand delivers colorful bags of baking flour to Ana, which was his way of “giving her flowers” to make amends and profess his love to her despite the fact that he’s currently auditing her and turning her life upside down.
Knowing that he probably doesn’t have a lot of time left, Harold bumbles through his budding romance with Ana knowing that he wants to feel true love before he potentially expires, and his social awkwardness juxtaposed with her hard-headed combativeness makes for a romantic dynamic that becomes all the more urgent when Karen starts working with a literary assistant so she can finally finish the book that will ultimately kill him off before he has a chance to actually live his life.
Stranger than Fiction sees Will Ferrell expertly tread the line between serious and funny, and proves that he has acting chops that he doesn’t always necessarily channel unless he has a compelling reason to do so. Fortunately, he found a compelling reason in Stranger than Fiction’s screenplay, and you can find out what happens to Harold by streaming the title for free on Tubi.
