Will Ferrell has proven he can do stupid comedy time (Anchorman) after time (Talladega Nights). But can he do clever comedy? That’s what Stranger Than Fiction seems out to prove. In it Ferrell plays a boring, average man who turns out to also be the subject of a novelist’s latest story, whose narration he can hear. At first he thinks he’s hearing a voice speaking to him, but eventually he puts the puzzle together and realizes he’s a character in her book… and she’s trying to kill him.

Can Ferrell pull this kind of role off? His last venture into a mixture of reality and fantasy didn’t go so well (Bewitched) but that was just a big screen adaptation of an old TV show. This looks like its put together a lot better, and with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson attached it has a lot of promise.

The first trailer for Stranger Than Fiction has hit the web and looks hilarious. Instantly this looks like the type of movie I want to see succeed for Ferrell, and possibly movie him a little farther along his career like Jim Carrey.

Click here to check the Stranger Than Fiction trailer in Quicktime.