Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

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Plot

Harold Crick is a lonely IRS agent whose life is dictated by his wristwatch. He one day realizes that his day is narrated by a female narrator who narrates all the boring, mundane, repetitive things he does. This drives Harold mad but when he realizes that no one else hears this voice, he goes on with his normal life and begins falling for with Ana Pascal, a baker who doesn't pay her taxes.

The film then cuts to Karen Eiffel, an author who is suffering from writer's block and is slightly suicidal. She's looking to kill Harold Crick, a character in her novel, and seeks the help of an assistant (Penny Escher). It's revealed that Harold is the main character of Eiffel's novel. One day, Harold's watch goes on the frizz and is told by Karen that he's going to die because of this. This makes Harold seek out help through literature expert Professor Jules Hilbert. He refuses at first to help Harold but has a change of heart when Harold describes the way the narrator narrates ("little did he know").

Harold becomes infatuated with Ana, leading to him to destroy his regular schedule. As this is happening, Hilbert tries to figure out what king of story Harold is in by psycho analyzing him. After getting into a fight with Ana, Hilbert suggests that maybe the best way to save Crick is by doing nothing, since that would keep the story from going anywhere. This fails so Hilbert tells Harold to just live his life. While Eiffel continues researching on how to kill Harold, Harold decides to finally live his life without worrying. He ends up making love to Ana who begins to fall in love with him.

Hilbert makes a list of authors that could possibly be writing Harold's life and it's revealed that Eiffel lives in the same world as Harold. Eiffel finally figures out how to kill Harold who manages to reach the author and meet her. Harold gets the ending to her novel and gives it to Hilbert to read. Hilbert thinks that Harold has to die or the novel will be rubbish. Harold reads the novel and accepts his death.

Harold proceeds to his bus stop like every other day. Since his watch went crazy, it's 3 minutes ahead of Harold's daily schedule which leads him to saving a kid from getting hit by a bus by stepping in front of the bus. Eiffel can't bring herself to officially kill Harold and Harold is saved by his watch. This compromises the rest of the novel, which Eiffel plans to re-write.