Line #5 YMMV/StrangerThanFiction


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2	* DiagnosedByTheAudience:
3	** Harold. He's extremely meticulous, a stickler for following rules, is very socially awkward, and he rigidly schedules his life around his wristwatch down to the second. He's also a whiz with numbers; he calculates a large sum in his head in moments when a co-worker asks it of him, Dr. Hilbert takes notice that he was counting the steps on a staircase and the tiles on the wall as they walked through the college, and the visual effects mentioned under DesignStudentsOrgasm are noted in the commentary to be Harold counting things he sees around him.
4	** Karen Eiffel is very unusual in the way she acts around others, sometimes coming off as aggressive and distant. She also takes time imagining deaths, usually imagining herself being the one who dies, and at one point asks a nurse at a hospital "where are the dying people" because she wanted a visual to help imagine Harold's death.
5	* GeniusBonus:
6	** All the characters' last names are references to famous mathematicians and scientists.
7	** There are a number of visual references to René Magritte paintings, particularly [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_of_Man The Son of Man]].
8	** There's a blackboard in the background in one scene where Harold comes to professor Hilbert (after [[spoiler:the demolishing incident]]), presumably from his previous lecture. It lists the illnesses of various characters from the Literature/AlexandriaQuartet, written by Creator/LawrenceDurrell, whose later work heavily featured narrator shenanigans, with multiple levels of writers writing about writers writing about writers... who would then telephone the original creator, [[MindScrew Durrell himself]].
9	* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Fans assume that the book Karen was working on would ultimately become this film.
10	* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Harold's broken body after being hit by the bus. It's barely moving and twitching]]
11	* ParanoiaFuel:
12	** If you're a writer who has killed off characters. [[NightmareFuel Or maybe you are a character who isn't lucky enough to hear the voice of your narrator...]]
13	** Even if you're fortunate enough not to be a main character who is destined to die, being a supporting character in this world means that you have no free will. Your life is dictated by a force outside of your control, and unless you can hear your narrator, you have no ability to rebel against it in any way. Take Ana for instance: Karen's narration directly references the "flirtatious encounter" between her and Harold on the bus, which means she is also a character in Karen's book. As sweet as her relationship with Harold ends up being, she is essentially being forced into it by an external entity, with no ability to choose otherwise.
14	* TearJerker: At the end [[spoiler:when Harold decides to face his death.]]
15	** Made worse with the two people's reactions upon seeing who they accidentally killed. The driver being distressed is hard enough, but seeing the boy Harold saved, a ''child'' blaming himself hits it even harder.
16	** The very sad, sincere way Harold tells Ana "I think I'm in a tragedy" when he realizes just how badly he screwed up in offering to purchase the cookies she made special for him.
17	*** As well, the simple way that Anna just accepts this bizarre but tragic statement he just made with a nod of her head.
18	** Harold trashing his apartment trying to make the voice speak to him and then sitting down on his bed utterly defeated wondering if he was going crazy.
19	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Several critics bemoaned that the considerable talents of Music/QueenLatifah -- a capable lead in her own right -- were wasted in an "assistant" role that gave her very little to do.
20	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: One key moment in the film hinges on Harold running around trying to find a pay phone. Nowadays, the idea that someone doesn’t have their own cellular phone is pretty conspicuous; Harold did attempt to borrow one from his coworker, but that’s the only one referenced in the scene.
21	* VindicatedByHistory: Though far from critically panned, the movie didn't quite get the type of praise it deserved (mostly because many people were skeptical about Will Ferrell being able to pull off a dramatic role and a lot of the praise ends up sounding like "who knew Ferrell could do this?" rather than "it's a good movie"). However, today it is often regarded as one of the best movies of 2006, with many people wondering why Ferrell [[AwardSnub didn't get at least nominated for Best Actor]] at the Oscars.

Context YMMV / StrangerThanFiction