There are a lot of people who are apprehensive of Will Ferrell movies. Some people love him. I am one of the people that doesn't, generally, like what he does. He's a little funny, but for the most part, I like his SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skits more than most of his movies.
Stranger than Fiction, however, is not a "Will Ferrell Movie". It is a movie that happens to have Will Ferrell in it. Will also happens to do a fantastic job. This is his Butterfly Effect, It shows that he has far more talent than his previous roles have illustrated. He keeps up with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, and Kristin Chenoweth.
This film is a wonderful "Work of Art": entertaining all the way though, funny, engaging, unique. It is bizarre, but has very real characters in spite of that. And it is more touching than most any film I've seen. This movie is in a class with Lars and the Real Girl and Waitress.
Analysis (Spoilers to Follow):
I love this movie. Professor Jules Hilbert is just like an obsessive literature theorist, Karen Eiffel is a weird writing recluse. Probably a lot like ol' J.D. Salinger except he probably would have gone ahead and killed poor Harold Crick. (I shouldn't say that. I've only read one of his books, after all...). I am interested to see what the book Karen Eiffel wrote was because it isn't the same story as is shown in the movie. Perhaps the movie is her revision, but that doesn't make complete sense, either. There are errors.
Is that a flaw, however? In the continuity, it is, a bit, I suppose... But it allows the story to be told the way it is, which is better than Eiffel's hypothetical first draft, of that I am sure even though I haven't read it. It could be, as long as there is a non-omniscient narrator and she put herself in the book (or changed names), the story as told in her second draft. But I don't think it would have worked very well as a book. This movie is made for its format, thankfully.
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