Stranger Than Fiction

Marc Forster's would-be mindbender, about an IRS auditor who begins hearing a voice in his head that convinces him he's not only a character in a novel but one about to be killed off by its author, owes a great deal both to Charlie Kaufman's existential puzzlers (Adaptation in particular) and to The Truman Show, sharing with the latter the notion of a man trapped in a fictionalized life, as well as the device of placing a wild-eyed comedian (here Will Ferrell) in a role that calls for restraint. Despite its aspirations, however, Stranger Than Fiction seems more imitative than unusual (setting aside the fact that the story doesn't make much sense), with its drawn-out subplot in which the bland protagonist finds romance (with bakery shop owner Maggie Gyllenhaal) and—by extension—the drive to stay alive, and a denouement that owes more to the demand for happy endings than to even the most rudimentary logic. The film offers some genuine consolation prizes in the supporting performances of Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. Her turn as the uptight, chain-smoking writer is more caricature than character, but she's absolutely a hoot; and he's thoroughly engaging as a single-minded (though multitasking) academic. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Actors in Search of a Story” (19 min.), “Picture a Number: The Evolution of a G.U.I.” on special effects (17 min.), and “On Location in Chicago” (11 min.); a 10-minute “Words on a Page” interview with producer Lindsay Doran and writer Zach Helm; a nine-minute “Building the Team” featurette on the crew; a “Book Channel Interview with Karen Eiffel” extended scene (7 min.); a deleted “Book Channel Interview with Peter Allen Prothero” (5 min.), three minutes of “On the Set” outtakes, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Jan. 6, 2009—Sony, 113 min., PG-13, $28.95—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 2006's Stranger Than Fiction (Special Edition) looks excellent and features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are almost identical to the previous DVD release, including the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Actors in Search of a Story” (19 min.), “Picture a Number: The Evolution of a G.U.I.” on special effects (17 min.), and “On Location in Chicago” (11 min.); a 10-minute “Words on a Page” interview with producer Lindsay Doran and writer Zach Helm; a nine-minute “Building the Team” featurette on the crew; a “Book Channel Interview with Karen Eiffel” extended scene (7 min.); a deleted “Book Channel Interview with Peter Allen Prothero” (5 min.), three minutes of “On the Set” outtakes, and trailers. New to the Blu-ray release are two audio commentaries (the first with director Marc Forster and costars Will Ferrell and Dustin Hoffman; the second with Forster, Doran, production designer Kevin Thompson, visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug, cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, and executive producer Eric Kopeloff), and 20 minutes of deleted scenes. Bottom line: offering more for the Blu-ray buck, this uneven minor cult favorite is worth considering for budding Blu-ray collections.]