Crazy, Stupid, Love is a delightful surprise. Here's a lively, well-acted, deeply honest look at love, family and romance.
If you've seen a movie in the past six months, you've almost certainly seen the movie's trailer—I know I've seen it dozens of times. The movie is not only much better than the mediocre preview would indicate, but doesn't end nearly as predictably as you may have thought.
Steve Carell stars as a suburban dad whose wife (Julianne Moore) confesses in the film's first scene that she's had an affair (with co-worker Kevin Bacon) and wants to leave him.
Find out what's happening in Norristownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Fans of Robert Altman's Short Cuts will perhaps be disappointed to learn that this time, Moore's confession of an affair is not delivered while naked from the waist down.
Newly single and lonely, Carrell begins unsuccessfully frequenting singles bars, where he meets womanizing lothario Jacob (Ryan Gosling), who decides to teach Carrell how to dress better, pick up women and otherwise reclaim his manhood.
Find out what's happening in Norristownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Meanwhile, Gosling meets a young woman (current "It Girl" Emma Stone), while Carrell's 13-year-old son attempts a clumsy pursuit of his slightly older baby sitter.
The plot makes Crazy, Stupid, Love sound like a relatively straightforward romantic comedy/drama, but it rises above that thanks to a witty script by Dan Fogelman, and super-sharp direction from Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
It's often laugh-out-loud funny, and biting without being too cynical. The directorial duo also wrote Bad Santa and co-directed last year's little-seen gem I Love You Philip Morris, which starred Jim Carrey in the real-life story of a gay con man.
The performances are also especially strong from top to bottom. Carrell is playing a role very similar to that of his first big movie part, in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, but adds a more grown-up seriousness this time. Moore, too, is playing a role that recalls her part in last year's The Kids Are All Right, although both her character and the movie itself ring much more true this time around.
But the film really belongs to Ryan Gosling. Coming off a transcendent performance in last year's great Blue Valentine, Gosling's role here is almost a complete 180—it's almost a wonder these two characters were played by the same person. Not only that, but he seems to be doing a full-on impression of author/professional pickup artist Tucker Max, even borrowing Max's haircut, mannerisms and facial expressions.
Stone is very strong as well—playing a law school graduate just six months after playing a high school student in Easy A—while Marisa Tomei has a terrific small role as a woman Carrell meets in a bar. Kevin Bacon has some fun in sleaze mode as Moore's lover, and there's even a decent part for singer Josh Groban, as an early lawyer boyfriend of Stone's.
The only place the movie really steps wrongly is a scene at the end of the second act in which there's a major plot twist leading into about three minutes of door-slamming farce. It's funny, but the tone doesn't really match that of the rest of the movie.
Regardless, Crazy, Stupid, Love is supremely sweet, entertaining and funny.
Crazy, Stupid Love, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and starring Steve Carrell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Marisa Tomei. Rated PG-13; 1 hour, 47 minutes.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is now playing at:
- UA King Of Prussia Stadium 16 & IMAX, 300 Goddard Blvd., King of Prussia
- Regal Plymouth Meeting 10, 1011 W. Ridge Pike, Conshohocken
- Regal Marketplace at Oaks Stadium 24, 180 Mill Road, Oaks
