Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
From out of nowhere Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) discovers that his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) has been having an affair, his world turned outside down. Out of the house, and on his own he haunts a bar looking for people to tell his hard luck tale to. It’s here that he meets up with Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a gigolo who picks up different women each night, he sees a challenge in Cal and decides it is his duty to turn Cal into an older version of himself.
A Steve Carell movie can be a hit or miss affair, thankfully in the case of Crazy, Stupid, Love this is very much a hit, a hit on many different levels. First up it gives us a compelling and moving comedy, followed by a tale of tragedy over love lost, and finally a lesson in morality.
A tale of two halves the first portion of the movie focuses on the comedy, it’s an addictive comedy that focuses on first what is said, then what is done. It’s a squeamish situation watching Cal make the transition from helpless nobody, to woman magnet, very much one of those “dad dancing” scenarios that literally at times makes your skin crawl.
On an interesting level, Cal is not the only one getting an education, his son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) has his own love problems, thirteen years old and deeply in love with an older woman, Robbie tries everything to get the woman of his dreams, and in the process allowing the audience to squirm even more.Not to mention the fact that the older woman is not only his babysitter, but madly in love with his father Cal.
While on the whole the journey of the movie is fairly predictable, in the short term you never really quite see what is going to happen. And when Jacob meets up with Hannah (Emma Stone) the results of the relationship provide one of the good kicks in the movie.
There is a real magic about the movie in that all the characters including the villain played by Kevin Bacon are easy to like, the performances of all gleaming, it’s like a masterclass in how to act in a comedy movie. Marisa Tomei’s performance is particularly good as Cal’s first victim as a gigolo.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is without a doubt one of the best comedy movies of 2011, but sadly one you cant really say much about, this is a movie you need to immerse yourself in, and for all its major aspects to come as a complete surprise in order to win your heart. You will most certainly laugh, and there is a possibility that the movie will cause others to cry, one thing is for sure this is a movie that pushes all the right buttons, and provides the viewer with an entirely enjoyable two hours (which passes in the blink of an eye). It also adds to Gosling’s continued success of racking up seemingly perfect movies.
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