Crazy, Stupid, Love (***)
Directed by: Glen Ficarra, John Requa
Starring: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone,
Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, Josh Groban
Seen: August 27th 2011
*** Out of ****
First things first: Crazy, Stupid, Love is not as much of a comedy as
advertised. It is brilliantly hilarious at times, thanks to some snappy writing
and the always comedic genius of Steve Carell, but this is more of a romantic
drama with some added comedy. This doesn’t reduce its impact in the least, it
makes the movie that much stronger as a true indicator of love lost, gained,
fought for and inspired.
As Crazy, Stupid, Love starts, Cal (Carell) is confronted by his wife Emily
(Moore) asking for a divorce and telling him of her affair with David Lindhagen
(Bacon) when Cal was expecting a dessert order. He shuts down, not responding
to anything, going to extremes to avoid even hearing her voice. He moves into
his own apartment and becomes a regular at a local bar, loudly complaining to
anyone who’ll listen (and those who won’t) about David Lindhagen. The young ladies’
man Jacob (Gosling), who picks up a new girl every night, approaches Cal and
offers help – the make-over kind, and the next day they’re shopping, a complete
new wardrobe for Cal. Coupled with this Jacob ‘coaches’ Cal in becoming as successful
a ladies’ man as himself. Cal starts finding success, but then just as he gets
close to reconciling with Emily, an unfortunate coincidence drives the wedge
back between them.
On the other side of the coin Jacob has his sights set on Hannah
(Stone), the one girl who hasn’t capitulated to his charms. At first she’s just
another conquest for him, but when she makes things difficult he starts to
slowly change. She has a boyfriend, Richard (Groban), who turns out a little
too geeky and far too uncommitted for her, and when he disappoints her one more
time she runs into Jacob’s arms, and goes home with him. The sequence at Jacob’s
home is one of the best in the movie, as the two get to know each other through
Hannah’s sceptical view of Jacob’s ‘moves’, and as the two start communicating
you can see a small change igniting in Jacob – a really special moment.
What makes Crazy, Stupid, Love so good is that these two stories,
while being the main stories, are not the only focus of the movie, and the
balance between the different stories is well managed. There’s Emily’s struggle
between Cal and moving on to David Lindhagen as well as Cal’s son Robbie’s
(Bobo) infatuation with his babysitter Jessica (Tipton) to add to the two main
men’s trials and tribulations. When humour is used it is always a good laugh,
and when the story requires a serious background it is right there. Two big
coincidences are probable, but stretch believability a little far, as these
surprises come as almost too much to bear, and can, even momentarily, take the
viewer out of it all. Crazy, Stupid, Love is heartfelt and beautiful and sad
and hilarious and a great way to spend an evening, a great date movie I’d say, with
Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling both excellent leading men. This movie might not
be brilliantly life-changing, but it will soon form part of my DVD collection.
Comments