DVD WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S OFFBEAT HUMOR.

Byline: Rob Lowman

Entertainment Editor

'Stranger Than Fiction" is a matter of will.

Will, in this case, being Will Ferrell, who excels in playing doofuses in films such as "Talladega Nights," "Anchorman," "Old School" and "Elf."

In this Marc Foster ("Finding Neverland," "Monster's Ball") film, however, Ferrell is the buttoned-down Harold Crick, an IRS auditor living alone and comfortable in his rut. His dull life is being described to us by a female British narrator, who we soon discover is also describing it to Harold inside his head.

Eventually, he discovers that he is a character in a novel being written by chain-smoking Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), who's desperately trying to cure herself of writer's block.

Ah, yes, it's not uncommon to have the paranoid delusion that we are the product of someone else's script. (This is usually accompanied by a few screams of "Get me rewrite" before letting the notion fade.) But in Harold's case, it's meant to be literal -- or literary. Harold finds an English professor, Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who takes him seriously, even citing Italian writer Italo Calvino's premise that reaffirms either the continuation of life or the inevitably of death (and, in this plot, taxes). As for Harold, Karen is thinking of killing him off, and he knows it.

"Stranger Than Fiction" is an amusing conceit, and Thompson (who has won an Oscar for her writing) is, as usual, super. The presence of Maggie Gyllenhaal as Harold's love interest is also welcome.

Ferrell, though, has a tough time shaking that clown image. Jim Carrey, Bill Murray and Robin Williams have all done it with varied success. But the role could have used a younger Tom Hanks. The two-time Oscar-winning actor was never the comic Ferrell is, mostly playing roles in comedies, but that's what allowed him to be taken seriously. Ferrell may never get there -- or not until you're not waiting for him to slip on a banana. But then, "Stranger Than Fiction" isn't all that serious anyway, just quirky fun.

Director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe are the odd couple behind "A Good Year."

Last time they got together, it was for the heavily macho "Gladiator"; so getting together for the light, sunny tour of Provence seems a bit odd.

Feel-good films are not Scott's forte. His women's empowerment film, "Thelma & Louise," after all, ended with the heroines driving off a cliff. Crowe, on the other hand, is battling his image as a phone thrower.

Maybe they thought "A Good Year" would show them in a different light. It is very sun-dappled, and Crowe plays a hard-nosed British businessman who undergoes a personality change when he inherits a French chateau with a winery from his uncle. Complications and love interests ensue, as they are wont in such films.

It's not very romantic or comic, but hazily pleasant, like the buzz you get from an afternoon with a decent bordeaux. Perhaps you should consult your wine cabinet before viewing.

The Jack Black-Kyle Gass rock 'n' roll buddy movie "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" plays like a series of disconnected jokes. Some work, some work only because of Black's exuberant personality, and some are like an intolerably dissonant heavy-metal solo.

The plot involves a magical green guitar pick that all great guitarists have used, and that eventually leads to the duo -- the self-anointed "greatest band on Earth" -- battling Satan himself (Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters). Quite silly, really. We've already had musically inept "Bill and Ted" on their quests, and the karate kid himself, Ralph Macchio, battled the devil in "Crossroads."

There are laughs -- just not that many or that hardy.

If you want great, there's "Bob Dylan -- Don't Look Back (1965 Tour Deluxe Edition)." The D.A. Pennebaker documentary is one of the greatest rock films of all time. Pennebaker's access to the musical icon was unbelievable as Dylan toured England in 1965. This new version includes a new hour-long look at Dylan, and the original 168-page companion book to the film. If you've never seen it, you're missing a fascinating window into this moment of rock history.

The best way to see the recently aired BBC thriller "The State Within" is on disc. The six-hour series stars Jason Isaacs as a British ambassador to the United States who discovers an international conspiracy. It begins with a U.K. commercial airliner being blown up over Washington, D.C., prompting Virginia's governor to round up British Muslims. Throw in a secretary of defense (Sharon Gless) who makes Donald Rumsfeld look like a wimp, an execution of a British national in Florida that somehow ties in with all of this, plus sex (homosexual and heterosexual) and lots of duplicitous characters and you have a lot of confusing elements.

But Isaacs is really good, and watching it in hour episodes (like "24") makes it easier to keep track of things. And while it doesn't have the over-the-top fire of "24," "The State Within" is hot stuff.

Patrick McGoohan was cool spy John Drake for the British M9 Intelligence Agency, in the '60s TV series "Secret Agent AKA Danger Man." Now fans can get "The Complete Collection Megaset." Included are all 47 episodes of the show, digitally remastered and presented in the original CBS broadcast order. And, of course, there's Johnny Rivers' classic theme.

Rob Lowman [phone]

[e-mail]

NEW FILMS

"Stranger Than Fiction" (New Line; $28.95; $36.96 for Blu-ray)

"A Good Year" (Fox; $29.99)

"Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" ($27.98)

"Conversations With God (Fox; $29.98)

"The Return" (Universal; $29.98)

"Tideland" (Velocity/ Thinkfilms; $27.98)

OLDER FILMS

"Bob Dylan -- Don't Look Back" (New Video; $49.95)

"Alexander -- The Final Cut, Two-Disc Collector's Edition" (Warner; $24.98)

"Bullitt" (Warner; $28.99 HD)

TELEVISION

"The State Within" (BBC/Warner; $29.98)

"Secret Agent (aka Danger Man)" -- The Complete Collection (A&E; $149.95)

"The Rockford Files -- Season Three" (Universal; $39.98)

"Magnum P. I. -- The Complete Sixth Season" (Universal; $49.98)

"Everybody Hates Chris -- The First Season (Paramount; $50.99)

"The Doris Day Show -- Season 4" (MPI; $39.98)

"Touched by an Angel -- The Third Season, Vol. 2" (Paramount; $38.99)

"Girlfriends -- The Complete First Season" (Paramount; $36.99)

"7th Heaven -- The Complete Third Season" (Paramount; $49.99)

"Reno 911! -- Reno's Most Wanted (Uncensored)" (Paramount; $19.99)

"The Best of the Flip Wilson Show" (Rhino; $49.98)

"Da Vinci's Inquest -- Season 1" (Acorn; $59.99)

"Digging for the Truth -- The Complete Season 2" (A&E; $49.95)

"The Brady Bunch -- The Complete Fourth Season" (Paramount; $38.99)

FOR KIDS

"Disney's Little Einsteins -- The Legend of the Golden Pyramid" (Disney; $19.99)

"The Land Before Time XII -- The Great Day of The Flyers" (Universal; $19.98)

MUSIC

"Nine Inch Nails -- Live -- Beside You in Time" (Nothing; $19.99; $24.95 Blu-ray or HD)

"Dolly Parton and Friends (MPI; $29.98)

"Johnny Mathis Live -- Wonderful, Wonderful -- A Gold 50th Anniversary Celebration" (Sony; $14.98)

"Carlos Santana & Wayne Shorter -- Live at Montreux" (Image $19.99)

SPORTS

"NFL Super Bowl XLI -- Indianapolis Colts" Championship (Warner; $24.98)

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Will Ferrell is hearing things -- and not just music --in "Stranger Than Fiction."