Moving. Dramatic. Romantic. Not exactly what you would expect from a Will Ferrell movie, but, “Stranger Than Fiction,” which comes out in theaters today, is all of that. The movie still has all of the laughs you would anticipate from Ferrell, yet it has so much more. It has a plot.

The film is about the life of a man named Harold Crick (Will Ferrell). Crick is an extremely anal IRS auditor who counts everything around him, from his steps to the number of strokes he uses when he brushes his teeth. Crick is a wiz with numbers and could calculate any equation thrown his way. His life is extremely routine and lonely.

Then one day, Crick begins hearing a narration in his head from a female voice. The narrations accurately describe every move he makes and every emotion he feels. Initially, this bothered Crick, but became much more serious when he hears her say that he faces imminent death. He realizes that he is the protagonist in a story and goes to see a literary specialist, the eccentric Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) to help find who the author narrating could be so that he can try to stop her from killing his character.

The narrations start to turn Crick’s life upside-down. But since he knows his days are numbered, he begins to do things he wouldn’t normally do, like learn to play guitar. He also finds himself falling for a baker he was sent to audit, Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

This film has an outstanding cast, which also includes Emma Thompson as Kay Eiffel, the narrator and author of Crick’s story and Queen Latifah as Penny Escher, Eiffel’s assistant.

The storyline is creative and touching, but will still keep you amused and laughing. The film started out a little slow, but didn’t take too long to pick up. The romance between Crick and Pascal is very sweet and endearing. The end is very touching and spine-tingling. A great performance from Ferrell, who was very convincing, emotional and funny all at the same time.

Rating: 4 Stars

Total stars possible: 4