Crazy, Stupid, Love or: The Tale of Abs, Crying and Misplaced Commas
There is a point late in CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE (that final comma in the title is not my mistake but rather how the makers intended it to be written. I don't want to get into a huge grammar rant here but, by God it 's infuriatingly stupid) where Ryan Gosling takes his shirt off. There were audible gasps from the females in the theatre and onscreen, Emma Stone comments "It's like you're photoshopped". It's a funny moment in an otherwise unremarkable film that is only really notable for cementing the status of 'dreamboat' Ryan Gosling as the man of the moment.
CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE is a thoroughly competent rom-com (or dramedy if you really want to split hairs) that, while aspiring to be deeper than the average Hollywood product, sadly ends up coming across as smugly self-satisfied and ultimately fatally flawed. Steve Carell plays Cal Weaver a regular husband who has just learnt his wife (Julianne Moore in her patented 'cry' acting mode - see video below) has been cheating on him and wants a divorce. Cal quietly accepts this turn of events and placidly moves out, spending his time at a local bar/club drinking his sadness away. Ryan Gosling's Jacob, the man-about-town who spends every night at said bar picking up different women, notices Cal and decides to help him get on his feet again. This involves a montage of shopping for new clothes and several lessons on picking up women.
;
On the side of this compelling main plot CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE offers several uninteresting side-plots designed to show us different facets of this crazy, stupid thing called love. The babysitter with an irrational crush on the older man. The young boy with the crush on the older babysitter. The young professional woman stuck in an unrequited relationship etc. All these plotlines inevitably collide in an overly clever piece of screenwriting that is more annoying than satisfying and as the film cannonballs on to its requisite happy ending one is left with the feeling that any pretense of genuine, honest emotion the story wants to convey is all just smoke and mirrors.
The huge irony in CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE is that its biggest strength is also its fatal flaw. Abmaster Ryan Gosling is truly fantastic here - charming, sexy, funny and genuinely charismatic. Directors Glen Ficarra and John Requa also seem so charmed by Gosling that they are afraid to paint his character in any negative light. The big dramatic plot turn in the film depends on us disapproving of Gosling's early story womanizing but at no point in the narrative do we dislike him. All the women he (and Carell) beds in the film are presented as being perfectly happy with one-night stands (except one played by Marisa Tomei who is notably described as 'crazy'). At no point is it stressed or shown that Gosling is using woman or harming them so when the film turns and begins to judge his behavior it leaves a vacuum in the narrative. The makers of CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE seem so afraid of presenting Gosling in a negative light that the film itself becomes confusingly mechanical by the end. Nothing makes sense, no character choice seems natural and in fact a few final moments that are presented as cute border on creepy and illegal.The biggest mystery with CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE is why Ficarra & Requa even got involved with this project. They are best known as the writing duo behind the sharply hilarious BAD SANTA and made their directorial debut a couple of years ago with the infamously delayed I LOVE YOU PHILIP MORRIS which they also scripted. With CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE they took on directorial duties for an already completed script (an odd proposition for a long term writing duo). Maybe they needed to re-build industry bridges after the controversial troubles they had with PHILIP MORRIS. No doubt this is a very safe film. There are still a few interesting sharp edges here and there but it mostly feels like a conservative romantic comedy with dabs of drama and delusions of grandeur.
CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE is a problematic but watchable film, populated with great performances and moderate laughs. For Gosling fans consider it vital viewing (although his performance in the upcoming DRIVE is really where it's at), he shows himself to be one of the most charismatic screen presences seen in years despite him actually working to the film's detriment. For all others (including Carell fans) I wouldn't expect too much. I wish I could say some great poster quote like, CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE is crazy, stupid, fun but really it's just a middling, flawed, distraction.Bookmark/Search this post with:
Comments
Others weren't nearly as strong as you, Rich: http://tinyurl.com/6cluvf8
Good review. I'm not sure what Gosling's up to with this. A 'safe' film to offset some of his risky roles?
Holy Shit! I cannot believe that many people actually used the 'crazy, stupid, fun' line!! I do respect the promo team for not using it on a poster (at least not that I have seen as of yet). But as the film is definitely none of those three things any writer that uses that line should immediately be ignored...
I don't begrudge Gosling for taking it easy with a film like this, especially after how literally cold and psychopathic his role in Drive was. He just better not make a habit of it.