10 Best Films About Writer's Block

We've already mentioned that Forster's film features a terrible example of a successful writer in Thompson – who regularly kills off main characters that, without realizing it, were real people. Creative writing professor Dustin Hoffman constantly praises her work as genius, though the novel she's working on doesn't seem to deserve a great deal of merit. It could partly be an in-joke, like the ominous use of the phrase "little did he know" not being a cliche, but a grave warning.

When lowly IRS agent Will Ferrell begins to hear her narrative, he desperately finds a way to reach the author and make her aware of his corporeal existence. He does, throwing the already blocked Thompson into a moral quandary. Kill him, and her supposed masterpiece would be a success. Let him live, and the book wouldn't make thematic sense.

The film's only downfall – an otherwise fine work with a charming cast and a rare sweet performance from Ferrell – is that without Ferrell's post-modern dilemma, Thompson's novel kind of sucks.