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So, I’ve seen the new trailer a few times for Will Ferrell’s new movie Stranger Than Fiction (due out in theaters mid November) and just HAD to write about it.

The story follows Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson) who is an aspiring writer who wouldn’t you know has writers block. I guess there has to be some sort of dilemma or else there would be no reason to make a move. Anyway, Kay has writers block. She’s having troubles coming up with a way to kill her main character Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) who wouldn’t you know actually exists. The movie progresses with Harold living his daily life working as an IRS auditor with this woman’s voice narrating everything he does. Long story short, Kay finally overcomes her writers block and devises a way to kill Harold. Since Harold can hear everything she’s writing, he now knows his death is imminent and thus begins his ‘quest’ of finding the narrator to his life.

“You have to understand this isn’t a story to me. It’s my life. I want to live”

Before I begin to pick Stranger Than Fiction apart I just want to make a mention of the movie’s tagline “Harold Crick isn’t ready to go. Period.” I mean seriously who thought up that line? That tagline can definitely be added to the never-ending list of horrible taglines. Harold Crick isn’t ready to go? No shit. Who is ready to go?

This is where I go off on a tangent…

That tagline, for some odd reason, gets me thinking about the Santa Clause 3 trailer. For those of you that haven’t seen the trailer, there’s this part where Jack Frost (Martin Short) is being charged in some sort of court. The judge says to him, “…you are hereby charged with attempting to upscale Santa Clause in a manner that is both willful and malicious.” Jack Frost then replies, “Did you just accuse me of being skillful and delicious?” I mean give me a break. I bet the screenplay writers were giving themselves high-fives when they came up with those lines thinking that those lines were the funniest lines ever. Hey, let me let you in on a little fact. It’s not funny. Just like “Harold Crick isn’t ready to go. Period.” isn’t funny either.

Will Ferrell acting serious in Stranger Than Fiction

People think that just because Will Ferrell stars in a movie that it’s supposed to be funny. Well, lets just take a look at some of his past movies and each movie’s funniness factor. Bewitched wasn’t funny. Kicking and Screaming wasn’t funny. Zoolander wasn’t funny. Get the point? Ferrel does have some quality movies under his belt such as Old School, but I really don’t think this dramatic comedy will be another one.

Judging from the trailer, the movie is aiming at being more serious than comedic which means Will Ferrell will be held back from really letting go like he did back on SNL. This is really disappointing because I have enjoyed some of Will Ferrell’s movies, but acting in a serious role doesn’t fit his style. Instead of branching off into different genres, he should stay with what works for him - comedy.

Will Ferrell brushing his teeth in Stranger Than Fiction

Oh, I forgot to mention Stranger Than Fiction also stars Queen Latifah. I’m sure I don’t need to tell everyone what she does to movies. Just for kicks and giggles though, I’m going to do a quick run through of her past movies. Last Holiday was weak and we all knew how it was going to end. Beauty Shop was a Barbershop rip off. If you’re going to rip off a movie, rip off a good movie. In Taxi, I actually felt bad for Jimmy Fallon. Latifah played Aunt Shaneequa in Scary Movie 3. There’s a stereotype if I’ve ever seen one. See where I’m going? She stars in bad movies. I don’t even know how all the scripts for those movies got an O.K. to start filming.

Ultimately, when Stranger Than Fiction is released, it will most likely do well opening weekend due to Will Ferrell’s presence, but it won’t go much further than that. Period.