Cardinal Points

Issue date: 12/1/06 Section: Life

Will Ferrell, as Harold Crick, and Dustin Hoffman, as Jules Hilbert, star in the movie "Stranger Than Fiction".

"Little did he know it would lead to his imminent death."

That quote might not shock nor scare you but when it was uttered in the new movie, "Stranger Than Fiction", the main character Harold Crick wasn't too happy to hear it.

Harold Crick, played by Will Ferrell, was an IRS auditor who lived a simple lonely existence. He stuck to a routine everyday and nothing ever seemed to change for him.

However, Crick was not just an ordinary man.

He also happened to be a character in a woman named Kay Eiffel, played by Emma Thompson's new novel.

This romance comedy was not what is usually expected out of Ferrell.

His character is defiantly far off from when he played Ron Burgundy in 2004's "Anchorman".

When comparing "Stranger Than Fiction" to some of Ferrell's previous work, it seemed to be a slight flop.

For anyone who likes a good romance movie, "Stranger Than Fiction" is perfect.

The premise of the story is to create a sort of fantasy where a novelist's character actually comes to life.

Although the author did not know she was writing about an actual living breathing person, Crick could hear everything she wrote.

Although it confused him and made him question his sanity, he did not seek much help until he learned of his shortened life span.

In the movie, Eiffel was what some might call a disturbed woman.

However, she was also considered a brilliant novelist. She had a pattern in all of her books. In the end she would always kill off her main character.

Although Crick knew what was in his near future, Eiffel was experiencing a slight case of writers block and she could not figure out how to kill him off.

Her writer's block bought Crick some time so he decided to elicit the help of an English professor, Jules Hilbert, played by Dustin Hoffman. Crick figured if he talked to him and explained the story he was hearing, Hilbert might be able to figure out the author.

Crick may have lived a simple life but, with the help of Eiffel's writing, he finally got to experience love with a woman named Ana Pascal, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

At first, Pascal didn't exactly get along with Crick

Continued...

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