The second free movie I saw this summer was Land of the Lost, starring Will Ferrell and based on the 70s kids' show of the same name. The movie was basically another typical "Will Ferrell" movie; basically, he always plays a loud, childish, moronic blowhard who either (rightfully) has no respect, has earned respect through bizarre means, or has fallen from grace. He was very funny when he was on Saturday Night Live, when he played other types of characters (such as Alex Trebek, who was intelligent but repressed), but his movie career has defined by playing the same annoying role over and over again.
But there is one exception. In 2006, he played the lead character in Stranger Than Fiction, a role that was marked by soft-spokenness and timidity. Like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ferrell showed us that he actually can act and make us care about a character. Stranger Than Fiction is a metafiction film about a man who realizes that he is the lead character in a novel; he hears the author's voice in his head as she types the third-person omniscient narration. Harold Crick, the protagonist, is a likeable but timid IRS auditor who is obsessed with numbers. He doesn't have very many relationships with other people, but he finds his life enjoyable enough.
At first, the narration in his head irritates Harold and fears that he may be crazy (however, he realizes that the voice is talking about him, not to him, and has a much better vocabulary, so he rules out schizophrenia). But the voice soon help him realize how lonely he is when it helps him notice Ana Pascal, a pretty baker he is auditing. Sadly, along with this realization, the voice also informs him that he will die soon. When Harold's now-erratic behavior earns him a forced vacation from the IRS, he begins to fully live his life, something that he had always put off. He learns how to play the guitar and begins a relationship with Ana, who is his total opposite. She is unorganized, spontaneous, and full of life.
Harold also contacts a literature professor to try and figure out who is writing the story, what kind of story he's in, and determine whether or not he can avoid his fate. The scenes with Harold and Prof. Hilbert humorously examine literay aspects such as characterization, the difference between classical tragedy and comedy, and story structure. The "test" Hilbert devises to figure out what kind of story Harold is in always makes me laugh. The one thing I think that got left out was a discussion about determinism and free will; I would have liked to have seen Harold try to defy the things his author, Karen Eiffel, stated. Some of her statements are out of his control, such as descriptions of people and places. But other times, she narrates his actions as he is performing them, such as brushing his teeth. If Harold hears what she says, does he have the power to resist? And if he does do something differently, would the narration acknowledge it?
The film eventually uses Harold's self-awareness to examine what it means to be alive and what it means to accept death. Harold's entire world is altered by the voice; he begins to live, rather than just exist (yes, I stole that from WALL-E), and he accepts his own mortality, something very few people ever do. Eiffel's final lines about the nature of life and death are very interesting to think about, and we learn that her experience with Harold has also changed her life for the better.
I really hope Will Ferrell makes another movie that shows off just how much talent he has. Stranger Than Fiction showed us another side of him, and it's one I'd like to see again.
Up next: Over the Moon...
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