Viewed in
2012
Formats
DVD
Premise
Steve Carrell stars as a middle-aged father who loses his ways after his wife (Julianne Moore) wants a divorce. He befriends a ladies man (Ryan Gosling).
Loved
Gosling and his abs.
Liked
Extremely smart writing, strong cast.
Thoughts
Don't let the clueless marketing or the seemingly lame premise fool you. This was an incredibly funny and tender dramedy.
The writing was very clever. I laughed out many times to the truthful humor about adolescence, marriage, and the art of seduction. Mixed in with the observant stuff was the occasional, but often funny random comedy and poking fun of rom-com cliches.
Just was good were the dramatic moments, thanks to insightful dialog and genuinely flawed characters. Their foibles and face-plants were really sweet, rarely sappy. Some scenes just spoke volumes about the complexity of love, my favorites being the moments between Gosling and Emma Stone, and the phone conversation between Carrell and Moore.
The cherry on the top was the cast. There were charming performances from everyone, delivering comedic and dramatic gold. I liked everyone, from Carrell and Moore, to the sexy Stone, to great moments from Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei, to unknowns like Jonah Bobo as the love-struck son. You'd think his eyebrows would give him away, but somehow I missed Josh Groban's brief appearance. But really, this was the year of the Gosling. He dominated every scene he was in, with his lady-killer swagger, his comedic chops, and of course those lovely lovely abs.
In the first act, there were times when it felt like there was one character too many, but have faith that they all make sense in the end. Unfortunately this required multiple coincidences to pull it off, but the execution of the payoffs were so awesome, I had to forgive the implausible moments. The only other flaw was that the film was slightly all over the map, probably a biproduct of having co-directors.
Crazy, Stupid, Love was sharp, nuanced, and insightful. It was so enjoyable, it hardly felt like a chick flick you watch to "take one for the team".
