Comic actor Will Ferrell takes on a more serious role in his new film “Stranger Than Fiction.”

The film tracks the life of a dull IRS agent, Harold Crick, whose life is meticulously planned out including the number of brush strokes he makes while brushing his teeth and the steps he takes to the bus each morning.

The film features an all-star cast including Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Queen Latifa.

Thompson plays best selling author, Kay Eiffel, whose writer’s block has hampered her from finishing the book she started ten years ago. As she writes the novel, her narration suddenly takes the form of a voiceover in Harold’s life. The voice comes and goes as Eiffel describes in detail what is going on in Harold’s day. While standing at the bus stop, Harold hears the narrator foreshadow his ‘imminent death,’ so he turns to literary expert Professor Jules Hilbert (Hoffman) to help him determine whether he is living in a comedy or a tragedy.

Gyllenhaal plays a bakery owner who is being audited for failing to pay all of her taxes and makes it very clear that she isn’t a big fan of Harold. Professor Hilbert informs Harold that in order to turn his life from a tragedy to a comedy he must fall in love.

Smart and funny, “Stranger Than Fiction” surpassed the lofty expectations I hoped it would meet. The film’s literary appeal puts it into a unique category, and I was thrilled to see that the film didn’t waiver in the face of a difficult task. It also didn’t rely on either a completely predictable nor a completely illogical ending.

Ferrell shows his range with his performance and sells himself as a leading man who can be more than just a dopey or quirky comedian. Thompson gives the kind of performance movie goers now expect from her; smart and subtle and completely believable as a frazzled writer who is stumped at how to kill off her main character. It is Gyllenhaal, however, who took a role that could easily have faded into the background and brings her to the forefront. Funny, sweet and cynical all rolled into one character, Gyllenhaal is the character who adds heart to the film with the depth of her role.

“Stranger Than Fiction” could have easily fallen into the category of a cheesy and unbelievable work of supernatural fiction, but with the help of an excellent script and an even better cast it falls into the category of a stellar film and one of my favorites so far this year.

****1/2

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