Harold Crick isn’t ready to go. Period.

IRS agent Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) lives a very dull life until the day when he hears a woman in his head narrating everything he does; she is a famous author (Emma Thompson) who’s contemplating how to kill her character. Director Marc Forster’s imaginative film has a typical Charlie Kaufman-esque tone; we’re meant to laugh and cry and marvel at the way the story plays with conventions. Writer Zach Helm succeeds reasonably well at this. Ferrell is very effective in a part that seems tailor-made for him, Maggie Gyllenhaal is very attractive as the baker he falls in love with, and Dustin Hoffman is simply wonderful as the literature professor with a caffeine addiction.

The YouTube clip shows the trailer.

2006-U.S. 113 min. Color. Produced by Lindsay Doran. Directed by Marc Forster. Screenplay: Zach Helm. Cast: Will Ferrell (Harold Crick), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Ana Pascal), Emma Thompson (Kay Eiffel), Dustin Hoffman (Jules Hilbert), Queen Latifah, Tony Hale… Tom Hulce, Linda Hunt.

Published 2007-01-14 11:00