Product Details

• Actors: Will Ferrell
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: December 2, 2008
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001GF8WPI
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,448 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Much was written about Will Ferrell's first "dramatic role" as Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who begins hearing a voice narrating his life. But Stranger Than Fiction is hardly a drama. However, what Ferrell does--like Jim Carrey before him in The Truman Show--is handle a toned-down character with genuineness and affection: you believe he is this guy. Crick leads a lonely life filled with numbers and routines. While at first he considers the voice a nuisance, Crick decides more action is needed when it speaks of "his demise." Enter Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who takes on the absurd notion with revelry, trying to find out what kind of book Crick's life is leading. It turns out that the voice Crick is hearing belongs to Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson), a very real--and troubled--author who is writing a book in which Crick is a fictional character. As usual with these things, the stuffed shirt learns to live a better life--Crick even falls for one of his audits, a brash baker named Ana (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Marc Foster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) has the right tone for the film, using great urban scenes (the unnamed city is Chicago) with interesting visualizations of Crick's world of numbers. He also directs Ferrell, Hoffman, and Gyllenhaal to their most charming performances (plus Linda Hunt and Tom Hulce pop up in two funny scenes). Ferrell succeeds in being a romantic lead you can root for; a scene where he eats Ana's freshly baked cookies is totally delightful without a hint of sarcasm. Screenwriter Zach Helm has two personal traits with his story: like Crick he followed his heart (he stopped rewriting scripts and only worked on his own) and like Eiffel, the final results are not a masterpiece, but good, and entertaining enough. Britt Daniel of the band Spoon worked on the dynamite soundtrack.--Doug Thomas

Product Description
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/02/2008 Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Pg13

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Blu-ray? Because they can, January 25, 2009

By	Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Stranger Than Fiction is not your typical candidate for a Blu-ray disc because it lacks the sweeping scenery, action sequences, and special effects of most Blu-rays. However, the clarity in Blu-Ray is always superior to regular DVDs, so, if you want to fully utilize your Blu-ray player with a non-action film and don't mind the extra price, this version may be for you.

This surprisingly sweet, witty film poses questions about fate and sacrifice while playfully touching on literary topics. But if this were all this film was, it would be a bore. Instead, screenwriter Zack Helm gives us characters we care about deeply. Will Ferrell as Harold Crick turns in a marvelous performance that combines his usual bewildered, semi-clueless persona with depth and passion - a man confronted with the realization that his life may not be his own.

When Harold Crick, an auditor for the IRS, starts hearing his life narrated by a calm, female British voice, it drives him crazy, but the real crisis begins when he hears the words "Little did he know . . . ." Harold plunges into a quest to discover what this voice means and to steer his mundane life into something more rewarding. He falls in love with the heavily tattooed, rebellious baker he is auditing (Maggie Gyllenhaal as Ana Pascal) and tries to solve the mystery of the voice with English professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), a man more interested in the literary implications of Harold's situation than in the personal stakes. The film alternates between Harold's dilemma and that of chain-smoking novelist Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), the voice in Harold's head who is on a desperate quest to overcome writer's block.

Not a single actor is miscast in this metafictive exploration of writing, character, motivation, self-sacrifice, and passion. Although it's not clear why a man like Harold would be attracted to a woman like Ana, their chemistry makes the bizarre pairing work. Queen Latifah as Eiffel's calm assistant Penny balances Thompson's character's trembling near-insanity.

Except for BD Live, the extras are the same as those on the standard DVD version. Although I'm not generally a fan of special features, a few are worth noting: "Words on a Page," an interview with Helm and producer Lindsay Doran; and "Actors in Search of a Story," directer Marc Forster's analysis of the role of character in the story. Outtakes and deleted scenes are only marginally interesting.

The most amazing part of this film is the comedic overtones despite the heavy issues it addresses. The laugh-out-loud moments come one after another, and they serve to deepen our emotional involvement with the plot. I expected so little of this film, and was rewarded with much more than I thought possible.

For another humorous, though more difficult, film about the writing process and predestination, check out Adaptation (Superbit Collection).

-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I may already be dead... just not typed., June 8, 2009

By	Sean William Menzies - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This film rests on what I consider to be the greatest original screenplay of the past fifteen, if not twenty, years. Zach Helm has taken a startling concept - what if God actually had to meet the creations He kills - and brought it down to earth.

Harold Crick discovers he is a character in a novel that is in the process of being written, the trouble is, the author, Karen Eiffel, always kills off her heroes in the end. Karen is God, weaving the tale of her characters then mercilessly killing them off. Harold is Everyman, boring and mundane, but suddenly awakened by the realization that he will one day die. Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman)is the Priest, the go-between for Harold and Karen. Queen Latifah, despite the disparaging review below, is given a graceful, subtle role in this film of high comedic subtleties, and is the Archangel, the only source of reason in a mad fable.

One has only to hear the beautiful, sharp, many-layered dialogue spoken by such an outstanding cast to enjoy this solid classic. But there are visual treats, too. Harold Crick's wristwatch, which literally begins the whole story, is circular, just like the window of the bakery owned by his love-interest, Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhall). The combination of Zach Helm, director Marc Forster and such a rich cast has resulted in a film that will be remembered for years to come, much the way Shawshank Redemption has triumphed after an initially forgetful screen run.

For some odd reason, Sony seemed to have no clue how to market this film. The posters all made it look like a rip-roaring, good-natured comedy, when it is in fact a dark fable about the inevitability of death, but also of the richness and beauty of life. It is deadpan, it is deep and it is funny. It is about all of us.

3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great premise, first-rate performances, November 26, 2008

By	The Movie Man "tenebre89" (Maywood, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

"Stranger Than Fiction" is the newly released Blu-ray Special Edition containing numerous impressive bonus extras. Will Ferrell stars as Harold Crick, a lonely IRS agent whose mundane existence is transformed when he suddenly hears a mysterious voice narrating his life. With the assistance of Prof. Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), Harold discovers he's the main character in a novel-in-progress and that the voice belongs to Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), an eccentric author famous for disposing of her characters in unusual ways. Harold must quickly track down Eiffel and stop her before she conjures up a way to kill him.
Director Mark Forster creates a fascinating world within a world in "Stranger Than Fiction" and has elicited top performances from Ferrell and especially Hoffman, who looks as if he's having a ball with the role. Unfortunately Queen Latifah, who can shine on screen in the right roles, is pretty much wasted here as Eiffel's assistant. Bonus extras include commentary by Forster, Ferrell, and Hoffman; deleted and extended scenes; featurettes on filming in Chicago, writing the script, and the film's visual effects; and a montage of funny on-set moments.