Crazy, Stupid, Love

http://crazystupidlove.warnerbros.com/index.html

I'm going to shock you all now by revealing yet another of my crushes, Ryan Gosling. I have no doubt that any girls reading this will not be surprised by this admission. And any guys reading will probably mumble something about 'pretty boy' or 'six pack'. Truth is Ryan is very pretty and boy does he have a fine six pack. But that's not what this review is about. The other truth is that while I openly admit to having a crush on Mr Gosling, rather than this being a recent thing owing to his prettiness or good abs, this is a crush that stems back to The Notebook and a certain scene in the rain that I someday hope to re-enact.

Admission made, it will be a further lack of surprise that I wanted to see this movie, along with Mr Gosling's other new film, Drive (which I will hopefully be seeing/reviewing over the weekend). What was surprising - to me at least - was the amount of recommendations I had about this film before I'd had chance to see it.

The movie opens on a not-so-romantic dinner for married couple Cal (Steve Carell) and Emily (Julianne Moore). He wants desert and she wants a divorce. Soon after Emily admits to having an affair with her co-worker and Cal moves out of the family home. Cal's life is on a downward spiral until he meets Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a self confessed ladies man who decides to mentor Cal and turn his life around. Cal has soon learnt all of the tricks Jacob has to show and is a huge hit with the ladies. Meanwhile Jacob finds the one thing he wasn't looking for, a girl who could be 'the one'.

Okay, so no surprises so far right? You ready for one? I didn't love Crazy, Stupid, Love half as much as I thought I would. I partially think the endless recommendations ruined any chance I had of loving this film as they raised the bar too high. I don't deny that it's a film that somewhat pushes the boundaries of the romantic comedy genre, and I don't deny that the performances are all great. I just felt like too much time was spent on the Cal/Emily story and not enough on Jacob and Hannah (Emma Stone).

I am a huge fan of Emma Stone (see, it's not all about Ryan!) and she was almost as underused in this as she was in Friends With Benefits, but at least in that movie there was an excuse for her underuse as her role was only a cameo. Her comic timing is impeccable (as witnessed in Easy A, seriously, if you haven't seen it please go and rent/buy it now!) and she should have been featured a LOT more than she was. Kevin Bacon is also woefully underused.

The other thing I felt went against this film was the trailer. As you will see below, the trailer clearly puts the emphasis on the relationship between the younger couple and this simply isn't the case with the film. Don't get me wrong, the Cal/Emily story is well told and acted as I said above, it's just not what I was there for. It was the more depressing of the two storylines and for me, could have been better balanced by having more of the Jacob/Hannah story.

I don't want to put people off as it is a good film. Just don't expect it to be hilarious because it's not, though it has got funny moments. And don't expect it to tug at your heart strings because it's not all that touching, though it has moments of clarity. Do expect to see a slightly more realistic take on marriage and a slightly less realistic take on guys who sleep around. 

It's one of the better films in a month of distinctly average rom-coms. 8* out of 10.

*It's more of a 7.8 but as I've only ever given whole or .5 scores I'm rounding up. It only just gets an 8!

Viewing Date - 28th September 2011

UK Release Date - 23rd September 2011

Cast Overview:

Steve Carell ~ Cal Weaver

Ryan Gosling ~ Jacob Palmer

Julianne Moore ~ Emily Weaver

Emma Stone ~ Hannah

Analeigh Tipton ~ Jessica

Jonah Bobo ~ Robbie Weaver

Marisa Tomei ~ Kate

John Carroll Lynch ~ Bernie Riley

Kevin Bacon ~ David Lindhagen

Liza Lapira ~ Liz

Director(s) ~ Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Writer ~ Dan Fogelman