Stranger Than Fiction

Following Jim Carrey's lead, Will Ferrell has progressed from his surreal improvisations to attempt "proper" acting, and has managed to find a film that combines the themes of Carrey's most successful serious outings. Like Truman, Harold Crick's life is the creation of another - novelist Emma Thompson, whose narration he hears one day whilst brushing his teeth. From here the Kaufmanesque story manoeuvres itself through its paradoxical premise well, having Crick visit Hoffman's literature professor to figure out what kind of story he's in, and how he can avoid the overheard intention of his author to kill him off. Maggie Gyllenhaal as the love interest is sweetly feisty, but above all this is Ferrell's film and he pulls it off, his understated shyness gradually veering into wild-eyed desperation. While the story is less watertight than, say, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it takes itself less seriously and is more enjoyable for it. [Alec McLeod]