Let me just get one thing straight off the bat, although I find it easiest to label this film as a romantic comedy, it's really not this at all. It's really more of a romantic drama with good bits of comedy thrown in, but to make things easier on everyone I'm just going to refer to it as a romantic comedy because at the end of the day it is pretty damned funny.
Crazy Stupid Love is essentially a bunch of tangled love stories that are tied together for better or for worse. Cal is a man whose marriage has just come crumbling down around him, in a deep state of depression he frequents a fancy bar where he meets up with Jacob, the ultimate womanizer, who decides to help Cal take back control of his life.
Despite my simplified plot synopsis, the plot of Crazy Stupid Love is anything but simple. Even though the two main characters are Jacob and Cal there are many supporting players that really help to add a complexity to the film.
Let's start with Robby, Cal's son. He is portrayed by Jonah Bobo. He is a middle schooler that is under the belief that if you fight hard enough for your soul mate eventually you will win her over, a belief that through the course of the film he comes to realize may be foolish. He is madly in love with his babysitter, Jessica, who is 4 years older than he is and seems to have no interest in him. This minor set back does not deter Robby though, as he goes about continually humiliating himself in the name of love. Jonah is a real stand out star in this film and seems to be the most wise one out of the cast. The way he sits back and silently and with a sad amusement watches the rest of the characters go about their lives is pretty interesting. He spits out words of wisdom to the main characters, and one of his best scenes is when he goes toe to toe with bad guy Kevin Bacon and comes out on top. He's a great character and a great young actor that I feel we should keep an eye on.
There's Jessica, the high schooler that babysits for Cal's family and harbors a secret crush for Cal. She is portrayed by the beautiful Analeigh Tipton. She's not in the film a whole lot, but lights up the screen whenever she is on. Not necessarily an important character in the film, Tipton manages to make her scenes count.
There's Hannah, the independent college student. She is portrayed by the always lovely Emma Stone. Hannah is yet another character that is pretty much reduced to sitting in the sidelines, not really coming into the picture until the films third act. She's not given much character development to work with, but she is crucial to the plot o the film for reasons I won't divulge here. She is pretty much there to be Ryan Gosling's seemingly unattainable prize. Emma Stone is funny and clever here, like always, and it's sad that she isn't really given much to work with. That said her and Gosling's on-screen chemistry is pretty top-notch here. (In fact just about every character's chemistry here is top-notch. Julianne Moore and Steve Carrell, Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling, etc.)
There's Emily, Cal's wife that decides she's sick and tired of her sad sack husband and calls it quits after 22 years of marriage. She is portrayed here by the talented Julianne Moore. With a lesser script, or a lesser director she easily could have come across as a bitch, but here it is easy to understand why she broke off the marriage and the film actually makes her seem somewhat justified in doing this (despite the fact that she cheated on Cal with another man). It is clear she still has deep feelings for Cal and regrets having to divorce him and this makes her a more complex and better character overall. Throughput the film she questions her decision and tries to give Cal a few second chances that he either screws up or doesn't take full advantage of....it's actually quite sad.
Kevin Bacon is David Lindhagan, the film's main antagonist of sorts. He is dead set on winning over Emily, and really makes for an uninteresting character. It's quite likely that by the time you walk out the film, that you may have forgotten he was even in it. I've got to be honest here, I've really grown tired of Kevin Bacon ALWAYS playing the bad guy in films these days. Are you aware of how many films I've seen him in as the villain? It's getting old, FAST. Please Kevin Bacon, I'm BEGGING YOU....stop playing the bad guy, try branching out a bit next year.
The secondary lead in this film is the fantastic Ryan Gosling as Jacob. He is a rich playboy womanizer that frequents the same bar that Cal continually visits after his divorce. One day, Jacob decides that he's heard Cal bitch about his divorce one too many times and calls him over with a proposition: If Cal allows Jacob to make him over he promises that Emily will rue the day she ever broke off the marriage. And so begins one of the more fun sections of the film as we are treated to numerous entertaining interactions between Cal and Jacob. Carrel and Gosling make for a great screen duo. They play off of each other perfectly, and help to raise each others performances up. This film just wouldn't be the same without these two cast in it. Gosling is perfect as the ultimate bachelor, and manages to bring some depth to the character. He's not just some rich asshole who uses women, he also is actually a nice guy that ends up caring about Carrell's character by the end of the film, and he also makes an important realization that makes for a neat twist and drives his character to change his ways. I must say, 2011 is the year of the Gosling. He was in three fantastic films and he did superb acting performances in each. He is easily one of my favorite actors out there today, and he does a fantastic job here.
The main lead of the film is Cal, played by Steve Carrell. For most of the beginning of the film we are forced to watch the painful process of this guy's life being completely and utterly destroyed, one memorable scene is when his best friend ens their friendship at the bar. All I could think was poor Cal for most of the beginning of the film. This guy's life sucks and Carrell succeeds at making us feel his pain and anguish, it's very palpable in the film. It's great to watch as Carrell's character matures and grows over the course of the film, and he really is a different man by the time the end rolls around. Carrell is back in one of his best performances in a while, he's still very funny in this film but also brings a certain gravitas and maturity to his performance that, honestly, is quite surprising. I really do like Steve Carrell and let's hope he continues to get roles like this for they really help to show off his acting ability.
Crazy Stupid Love takes a realistic attitude towards love, but it's a very unrealistic film....if that makes sense. As the title implies, it's about how love is crazy and stupid and it doesn't make sense but after a while you just learn to go with it. There are monologues where messages about love can be found, but the way these monologues are done are pretty unrealistic (example: one monolgue is done by Robby as his graduation speech, why would he do that? Pretty inappropriate topic for a grad speech, dontcha think Robby?) and alot of the situations are unrealistic as well. It doesn't help that the film wants to insist that it's not a movie, as can be sampled by the many times when characters say: If this were a movie..., or in a movie this part would go like this. The film also makes jokes about it's PG-13 rating and characters joke about their life being R rated and not PG-13. Oh , SHUT UP! You're life is obviously PG-13 because THIS IS A PG-13 film!! If ever there were a film that didn't need to try to be meta, it was this one. The whole meta thing just doesn't work within the confines of this film.
Another thing that really bugged me was the big climax in which all the stories come clashing together. First off: this part didn't feel natural at all...forced is more of the word I would use. Secindly: The part wasn't handled very well, and even ends with a jokey part with all the guys stranging each other in a group. Nice going movie, you took what was supossed to be a serious scene and made it comical....NOT COOL. Luckily there is still around twenty plus minutes left after this embarrassing drop of the ball, ample enough time for the film to bring itself back up.
All this said, I do appreciate that the film takes a realistic approach towards the topics of love and relationships. For most of the film these topics are explored at length through these character's emotions, their beliefs, and their development as human beings. That's right, these characters end up resembling real human beings by the end of this film, and that's a great accomplishment. While it does bother me that the film tries to end with a positive attitude towards love and divorce, I'm glad the film still does not deny that love can be painful at times...possibly one of the truest messages found in this film.
So, despite some complaints, Crazy Stupid Love still succeeds where it really counts. With a stellar cast, some great messages (although I disagree with some of them), a strong script, competent directing, and plenty of heart Crazy Stupid Love manages to emerge as the most well made comedy of the year.
4/5 Stars
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