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{{infobox film|
:''The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. <span style="color:red">'''Please do not modify it.'''</span> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a [[Wikipedia:Deletion review|deletion review]]). No further edits should be made to this page. ''
name=Stranger than Fiction|
<!--Template:Afd top
image=<!--Strangerthanfiction1_large.gif-->|
caption=Promotional Poster|
director=[[Marc Forster]]|
writer=[[Zach Helm]]|
starring=[[Will Ferrell]]<br>[[Maggie Gyllenhaal]]<br>[[Dustin Hoffman]]<br>[[Queen Latifah]]<br>[[Emma Thompson]]<br>[[Linda Hunt]]|
producer=[[Lindsay Doran]]|
music=[[Britt Daniel]],<br>[[Brian Reitzell]]|
cinematography=[[Roberto Schaeffer]]|
editing=[[Matt Chessé]]|
distributor=[[Columbia Pictures]]|
released=[[November 10]], [[2006]]|
runtime=|
language[[English language|English]]|
budget =|
imdb_id=0420223|
}}
'''''Stranger than Fiction''''' is a [[2006 in film|2006]] American [[comedy-drama|comedy-drama]] [[film]] released on [[November 10]], [[2006]]. The film is directed by [[Marc Forster]], written by [[Zach Helm]], and starring [[Will Ferrell]], [[Maggie Gyllenhaal]], [[Dustin Hoffman]], [[Queen Latifah]], [[Emma Thompson]], and [[Linda Hunt]]. [[Columbia Pictures]] distributed the film, which is rated PG-13 for some disturbing images, sexuality, brief language and nudity.
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==Plot==
{{spoiler}}
Harold Crick ([[Will Ferrell]]) is a dull [[auditor]] for the [[Internal Revenue Service]] in an unnamed city (actually [[Chicago]]) who is awakened alone each morning by his [[Timex]] T56371 watch. He eats alone, counts the number of steps he walks for fun, focuses on ways to save time such as tying his [[tie]] in a single (as opposed to the more common, double) Windsor knot, and brushes his [[teeth]] exactly 76 times (38 vertical strokes, 38 horizontal). One day, Harold begins to hear the voice of a British woman, describing his thoughts and actions in real-time as if he were a character in a book. Harold attempts to communicate with the speaker, but soon realizes the voice does not know that he can hear it. That same day,
Harold is assigned to audit an intentionally tax-delinquent baker, Ana Pascal ([[Maggie Gyllenhaal]]). Her anti-authoritarian mindset is complementary to Harold's essence and attraction arises between them within moments of meeting.
The result was '''speedy delete''' by [[User:Jimfbleak|Jimfbleak]], A7. Non-admin closure. [[User:Blueboy96|Blueboy]][[User talk:Blueboy96|96]] 11:10, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
Harold's watch, fed up with him, stops working while he is waiting for the bus. Harold resets his watch to a time given by a bystander. At this point, he hears the narrator saying that this seemingly innocuous act would lead to his imminent death.
===[[50 UK Campus Conversation Topics]]===
:{{la|50 UK Campus Conversation Topics}} – <includeonly>([[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/50 UK Campus Conversation Topics|View AfD]])</includeonly><noinclude>([[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2007 July 21#{{anchorencode:50 UK Campus Conversation Topics}}|View log]])</noinclude>
Anxious at this ominious narration, Harold sees a [[psychiatrist]] who attributes the voice to [[schizophrenia]]. However, after Harold pleads that schizophrenia is not the case, the psychiatrist recommends he see a literary expert. Harold then visits Jules Hilbert ([[Dustin Hoffman]]), a professor at a local university (actually the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]]), for advice on how to change his apparent destiny. Hilbert interviews Harold and decides he must first properly ascertain the genre of his story. He summates that ultimately, to understand literature, one must generally choose between two faces of the human story: comedy or tragedy.
Advert for non-notable book. The author of the article is probably one of the authors of the book. -- [[User:RHaworth|RHaworth]] 02:21, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
*'''Speedy delete.''' Chinese-flavored [[WP:SPAM|spam]]. [[User:Realkyhick|Realkyhick]]
* '''Delete''' Not notable. [[User:Wikidudeman|'''<font color="blue">Wikidudeman</font>''']] <sup>[[User talk:Wikidudeman|(talk)]]</sup> 03:34, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
[[Image:Maggie_will.JPG|right|thumb|Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal]]Harold returns to Ana's bakery where she makes certain that his auditing of her is an unbearable experience. However, at the end of the day, she bakes him a batch of cookies and pleads that he takes them. Harold rejects this offer because it constitutes as a gift (or bribery for an auditor) and offers to purchase them instead. Ana, offended by the idea, tells him to go home. Taking Hilbert's advice, Harold begins to live his life as he only had dreamed; he rekindles a desire to play the [[guitar]], becomes friends with Dave, a co-worker ([[Tony Hale]]), ignores the numerical measurements of his actions, and pursues and courts Ana, who responds passionately. The climax of this courtship comes at Ana's apartment where Harold plays the song "(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World" by [[Wreckless Eric]], which leads to passionate kissing. This leads him to suppose that his story is a comedy, wherein the protagonists' feelings for each other change entirely.
*'''Speedy Delete''' A [http://www.google.com.sg/search?as_q=&hl=en&num=100&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=50+UK+Campus+Conversation+Topics&as_oq=&as_eq=wikipedia&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images google search] shows absolutely no hits for this article. It is thus impossible to [[WP:V|verify]] the contents of this article. --<font style="background:gold">[[WP:EA|<font color="green">S</font>]][[User:Siva1979|iva1979]]</font><sup><font style="background:yellow">[[User talk:Siva1979|Talk to me]]</font></sup> 04:27, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
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Back at Professor Hilbert's, as they are trying to deduce the author of Harold's story, Harold notices on the TV an old interview with author Karen Eiffel ([[Emma Thompson]]) talking about her next book, ''Death and Taxes''. Harold immediately recognizes Karen's voice as that of his narrator. Hilbert delivers the bad news: every one of her books is a tragedy in which the protagonist dies just as life becomes worthwhile.
Harold then begins a frantic search to find Karen, eventually tracking her down through a decade old IRS file. Arriving at her apartment, he tells her that he is Harold Crick, the main character of her current book, and he doesn't want to die. Karen is stunned to learn that whatever she writes happens to a real live Harold Crick. She gives him the manuscript of the story and tells him he deserves to know its ending. Deciding that he cannot bring himself to read the manuscript, Harold gives it to Professor Hilbert to read first.
When Harold receives the manuscript back from Hilbert the next day, Hilbert says that the story is a masterpiece and cannot be changed. He adds that because death is inevitable, Harold should accept it now. Harold then gets on a city bus and spends all day there reading the manuscript. When finished, he encounters Karen again. Harold tells her that it is a masterpiece and he is willing to die this meaningful death. Harold then spends his last night with Ana and then wakes up prepared to face his destiny.
Karen calmly narrates his life: his waking up, his getting ready, and eventually heading to the bus stop. It turns out that after his watch had stopped, Harold unknowingly set his watch three minutes ahead of schedule. He arrives at the bus stop three minutes early, in time to push a little boy on a bicycle out of the way of a city bus, which hits Harold instead.
Back in her office, Karen struggles writing the final words that would kill Harold. She weeps at her incomplete final sentence, "Harold Crick was de-" when the scene cuts. We soon learn that Karen decides not to kill off Harold Crick. In a stroke of irony, she writes that he was saved by a piece of his [[wristwatch]] that became lodged in his [[artery]] during the crash, preventing him from bleeding to death. His doctor explains that his wristwatch saved his now meaningful life, the doctor wryly adding on how "cool" that was. Ana comes to visit Harold, and sees that he has broken several bones. Karen later visits Jules Hilbert, and asks his opinion of her alternate ending. Hilbert replies that it was, "Okay, not great, but okay." In her defense, Karen explains to Hilbert that the value in killing Harold was lost, since he was aware of his death. She plans to rewrite the rest of the book to give Harold this knowledge of his "imminent death", and creating the story as we saw it. A man that is able to knowingly face his own death is not a man who deserves to die. The irony of the tragedy that would have become the masterpiece of her life instead became a perhaps more meaningful tribute to the man named Harold Crick, who no longer counted his footsteps and learned to appreciate the ones he took, rather than how many he took.
In the end, Karen manages to kill off her main character of the story in a different way - the watch now becoming the main character who dies a meaningful death so Harold will live.
{{endspoiler}}
==Cast==
*[[Will Ferrell]] - '''Harold Crick''', an IRS auditor, who finds one day that not only is his life being narrated, but that he may soon die. This starts to affect his entire life, and he elicits help from Jules Hilbert.
*[[Emma Thompson]] - '''Karen Eiffel''', a famous writer and the voice of Harold Crick's narrator. After she becomes the narrator in Harold's life, she claims that he will soon die.
*[[Dustin Hoffman]] - '''Professor Jules Hilbert''', a literature professor who attempts to help Harold with his narration problem by analyzing whether he is in a comedy or a tragedy. A fan of Eiffel.
*[[Queen Latifah]] - '''Penny Escher''', assistant to Eiffel, whom her [[publisher]]s have hired to make sure that she completes her new book by the set deadline. Often refers to Karen as "Kay".
*[[Maggie Gyllenhaal]] - '''Ana Pascal''', a baker and former [[Harvard Law]] student with a passion for her skill. Her wish is to make people happy -- a desire fulfilled by her cooking. She cultivates positive intentions, but is outspoken and loathes all things corporate.
*[[Linda Hunt]] - '''Dr. Mittag-Leffler''', a psychiatrist
*[[Tom Hulce]] - '''Dr. Cayly'''
*[[Kristin Chenoweth]] - '''Darlene Sunshine''', a TV talk show host on the fictitious "Book Channel" (character name only revealed on DVD release)
==Trivia==
{{spoiler}}
* During the movie, numerous references are made to The Beatles. Harold Crick is seen eating a green apple in numerous scenes, as a reference to Apple Records, The Beatles' record company. The name of Karen Eiffel's assistant is Penny Escher, as a reference to the song, Penny Lane. Harold Crick is seen crossing the road in some scenes, it looks somewhat like the cover of the album, Abbey Road. As a very simple observation, Harold Crick is a tax man, as a reference to the first song of the album Revolver, Taxman.
* [[Will Ferrell]] was nominated for a [[Golden Globe]] for his role as Harold Crick in this movie.
* When Harold begins responding to the voiceover, the viewer is led to believe that the writer has broken the [[fourth wall]], though it is later shown that the movie does not in fact make any explicit [[meta-reference]]s, itself being a work of [[metafiction]]. For a similar style, see [[Charlie Kaufman]]'s ''[[Adaptation.]]''
* While the writer's intent is not known, the last names of many characters can be connected to the last names of famous modern scientists and mathematicians: [[Francis Crick]], [[Gustave Eiffel]], [[David Hilbert]], [[Blaise Pascal]], [[Arthur Cayley]], and [[Gösta Mittag-Leffler]]. Penny Escher's name can be connected to [[M. C. Escher]], a [[Dutch people|Dutch]] graphic artist whose work was heavily influenced by mathematics.
* The Kroenecker bus, which hits Harold, can be attributed to the famous mathematician of the same name, [[Leopold Kronecker]].
* Additionally, Eiffel's publisher, Banneker Press, can be attributed to mathematician and clockmaker [[Benjamin Banneker]].
* In an early scene, onscreen graphics appear that resemble an image used to illustrate the [[golden ratio]].
* The movie Harold is watching in the movie theater is ''[[Monty Python's The Meaning of Life]]'', specifically the [[Mr. Creosote]] scene.
* The Soundtrack of the film contains five songs by [[indie rock]] group [[Spoon (band)|Spoon]], including a song written exclusively for the movie entitled "The Book I Write". It also includes three songs written by [[Spoon (band)|Spoon]] frontman Britt Daniel and musician Brian Reitzell.
* The film borrows heavily from ''[[Niebla (novel)|Niebla]]'' by ''[[Miguel de Unamuno]]'', a Spanish novel about a character who becomes aware he is being narrated by a writer and goes to visit him. However, in Unamuno's story, the main character commits suicide.
*In the scene where Harold gets off the bus after his chance meeting with Ana, a lit-up sign in the background reads 'Drury Lane'. This is a reference to the children's rhyme, 'Do You Know The Muffin Man', which tells about a [[baker]] who lives on Drury Lane.
*Portions of the movie were filmed on the campus of the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] during the 2004-2005 academic year.
*Actors [[T.J. Jagodowski]] and [[Peter Grosz]], who play two of Crick's co-workers, are well-known to American television viewers from their series of advertisements for the [[Sonic Drive-In]] restaurants.
*In the scene where Harold is given the box of cookies, the cookies can clearly be seen on the table when he is explaining how he messed up. Then it cuts to him, and then back to the table and Ana, and the cookies are gone.
{{endspoiler}}
{{IPA|}}
==Taglines==
*Harold Crick isn't ready to go. Period.
*Harold Crick isn't ready to go. Full Stop.
*Harold Crick always wondered what life was all about. Then it hit him.
*Harold Crick thought his life had no point. That's about to change.
*The story of his life!
*Truth is stranger than fiction.
*Harold Crick's not crazy, he's just written that way.
==External links==
* [http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/strangerthanfiction/ ''Stranger than Fiction'' official site]
* {{imdb title|id=0420223|title=Stranger than Fiction}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|id=stranger_than_fiction|title=Stranger than Fiction}}
* [http://www.soundtrackinfo.com/ost.asp?soundtrack=5859 Stranger Than Fiction soundtrack] Soundtrack questions, answers and other music information.
* [http://www.stv.tv/content/out/dontmiss/display.html?id=opencms:/out/dontmiss/dustin_hoffman Dustin Hoffman ''Stranger Than Fiction'' interview at stv.tv]
* [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061109/REVIEWS/611090301/1023 A Review of the Film by Roger Ebert]
[[Category:2006 films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:Chicago films]]
[[Category:Comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Fantasy-comedy films]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:Metafictional works]]
[[de:Schräger als Fiktion]]
[[it:Vero come la finzione]]
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