Bookish

A friend has a printed T-shirt and the words ask, ‘What if the hokey cokey IS what it is all about?’

It must be flying from the stalls in Santa Monica as there is a spate of films and books crossing the Atlantic, outlining the need for philosophical reassessment.

In ‘The Weather Man’, Nicolas Cage plays a character with a reasonably successful career but whose personal life is in turmoil and is occasionally pelted with soda cartons from a less than appreciative public. In A.M. Homes’ recent novel ‘This Book Will Save Your Life’, a fifty-something Californian man, who makes a living trading stocks on the Internet, is forced to confront his isolation after a near death experience.

Now, there is the DVD release of ‘Stranger Than Fiction’, from director Marc Foster and writer Zach Helm. The script is the first work of a man listed in Esquire (2004) Magazine’s best and brightest.

It has Will Ferrell playing Harold Crick, an IRS man who has a metronomic existence. He measures everything; from the amount he brushes each individual tooth, to the number of steps needed to cross the road.

After a snapshot of this ordered existence, Harold starts to hear a voice in his head, which provides an extremely accurate narration of his life.

Ferrell, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, give a full-throated scream and pad his walls, is led to a literary professor, played by Dustin Hoffman. They realise that the narrator is Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) who, we surmise, is intellectually intense because she is English, looks fraught and, crucially, smokes cigarettes.

She also writes tragedies and Harold, a character in her latest novel, is about to be fatally written off unless he can convince her to change the end of the story.

Thematically, it is a post 9/11 film, examining life choices and contemplating mortality. The narrative takes place in a blend of imagination and reality. It asks questions of the viewer so we ponder on creation, the problems of individualism and gaze in awe at a world where white Americans regularly travel on buses.

When Harold meets a bakery owner, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal on love-interest duties, she extols the pleasures of preparing cookies. In an almost identical fashion, ‘This Book Will Save Your Life’, has its character experience his awakening moment in a doughnut store. They seem to suggest the speed of the infamous handcart may well be approaching breakneck, so it is time to ignore the plummet and savour some home-baked treats before it is too late

Unfortunately, we have been fed this before. It is clever, but not always engaging, coming across as Adaptation meets Groundhog Day, via an incompetent dating agency. There are odd juxtapositions of mood, such as the segue from a character crying, into a scene booming out ‘That’s Entertainment’ by The Jam, which are indicative of a film trying too hard win hearts and minds. It falls a bit flat.

It is difficult to feel warmth from the characters. Partly, that is the point, but is a shame that a script that has a few wonderful, imaginative moments, such as an exasperated wristwatch, fails to create playful dynamics between the leads.

At times, it is enjoyable but there are also too many references, some self indulgent but obscure, like the nods to The Beatles; others playful but overdone, such as the characters being named after intellectual giants. It feels like we are seeing the writer’s collection of bubblegum cards.
It is obvious that Zach Helm will write something special but ‘Stranger Than Fiction’, is a talented performer clearing his throat. The best words are still to come.