I'm Being Serious!

Stranger than Fiction is a fantasy comedy starring Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, and Will Ferrell. Ferrell plays lonely IRS auditor Harold Crick, who suddenly finds he is the main character in Emma Thompson's novel. Her narration begins to influence his life, love and mortality and, as he struggles to discover the origin of the voice in his head, he learns how to truly live his life to the fullest. But c'mon! Rain Man and Jane Austen on-screen with Frank the Tank? Could it work? Do we want it to work? Stranger than Fiction is a lovely comedy, yes, but there are actual moments of drama in it too. Ferrell cries! He acts! And you don't catch a glimpse of his backside once. Is it possible? Has Will Ferrell managed to cross the great Hollywood divide between pigeon-holed typecast comic and entered the world of recognized gosh-darn-serious actor?

It has been done before. Robin Williams went from zany cartoonish characters ('Mork & Mindy', Popeye) to killers and stalkers (Insomnia, One Hour Photo) once the public saw him in a different light. When The Truman Show hit theatres, Jim Carrey was suddenly propositioned with love stories (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) instead of the usual slapstick goofiness he was known for (Ace Ventura). If comedy is truly harder to grasp, harder to perform even, than tragedy, why are comic actors so desperate to break out of the genre? Why is it that comedic actors are not taken seriously as actors, until they take a serious role? And why is it that we as viewers allow them to truly break free from the comic mould only if the film is a success?

Let's examine the career of Adam Sandler for example. Here is an actor determined to be seen as something other than a comic. But we just won't let him escape! We like him in his silly roles. Punch Drunk Love barely turned a profit while Little Nicky will be remembered as Sandler gold the rest of his career (whether he likes it or not). If you compare Sandler to, say, Renee Zellweger, a known dramatic actress (Cold Mountain, Cinderella Man) who adopted a British accent, fell down a few times, and was then nominated for an Oscar for her performance, well you can understand why he was so desperate for Spanglish to come along.

So, will Will Ferrell succeed in following Carrey or Williams' footsteps with Stranger Than Fiction? Will the next role be his Good Will Hunting? Or is he destined to flounder in half-rate films where the drama is coming, the comedy is going, and the audience is leaving, like Adam (Click) Sandler? Well, if Ferrell does become the next Olivier, we as viewers, can only hope that he'll leave a little room left in his tank for Frank.