Let's just get Charlie Kaufman out of the way now. Many have compared Stranger Than Fiction to Kaufman's work because the main character finds his life being plotted by a narrator, whose voice he hears describing the things he's about to do, like die. It is fair to say that fans of Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine... will be drawn to it, although it's warmer, fuzzier and more conventional than Kaufman's work.

And it is existential, but also it's a feelgood romance about taking control of our lives; it could almost be a Nora Ephron film, but writer Zach Helm and director Marc Forster's execution ensures it's as innovative as it is old-fashioned. Will Ferrell is outstanding as Harold Crick, who, plagued by the sudden narration of his life, finds help in the form of literary professor Dustin Hoffman, love in the shape of feisty hippy Maggie Gyllenhaal, and answers in Emma Thompson's unwitting author. They're all loveable; and it would take a cold heart not to love this film.

The DVD extras are nothing to wet your pants about - an hour's worth of standard featurettes and a couple of deleted scenes - but the film's the thing. And fingers crossed for similar greatness in the future from Zach Helm... one of his scripts in development is about a man who questions his sanity after receiving postcards from God.