Rated PG-13 for coarse humor, sexual content and language
Cast: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, John Carroll Lynch
Director: Glen Ficarra and John Requa
Here is a movie that is both funny and perceptive not just in equal measure, but often at the very same moments. That's a lot harder than it seems. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" is humorous without being strained and insightful without being self-congratulatory. This is the best of the summer comedies.
The story centers on the romantic entanglements of two men, and branches outward from there. The predominant characters are Cal Weaver (Steve Carell), a middle-aged suburbanite whose wife of twenty-five years, Emily (Julianne Moore) announces regretfully at dinner that she wants a divorce. And Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), a twenty-something Casanova who lives off of an inheritance and is so ridiculously good-looking that he can frequent the same bar every night and leave with a different woman without inviting mockery.
From there, we're introduced to other players in the high-stakes sport of love. Cal has a 13-year-old son (Jonah Bobo) yoked to romantic idealism. He's not shy about professing his adoration toward his 17-year-old babysitter (Analeigh Tipton). The babysitter, meanwhile, holds a torch for Cal, and sees an opportunity after learning of the split. After Cal moves out, Emily appears to want to explore a possible union with a co-worker named David (Kevin Bacon) to whom she engaged in a prior tryst, yet struggles with unresolved feelings. David is charming in his own way though prone to some unwise decision-making.
On the other side of the film's love bracket, Jacob's wanton lifestyle comes to a screeching halt when he falls for a lovely young law student named Hannah (Emma Stone). Hannah rebuffs Jacob's advances, priding herself on seeing through his womanizing ways. Yet her own relationship with a self-absorbed lawyer (Josh Groban) offers no fulfillment. "I need time to process how I feel about you for the long term," he unwisely confesses at one point. If he wasn't the shallowest man alive before that comment, he just managed to siphon a little more out of the pool.
To drown out his sorrows, Cal begins frequenting the same bar as Jacob. They meet, strike up a conversation, and the young stud agrees to help Cal out of his funk. This involves critiquing his entire appearance, from his sneakers ("Who are you, Steve Jobs?") to his clothing ("You're wearing a 44 when you should be wearing a 42 regular,") to his physical attributes ("The skin under your eyes is beginning to look like Hugh Hefner's ball sack.") After several lessons in being a pick-up artist, Cal re-enters the dating scene with a high school teacher (Marisa Tomei) who unleashes a torrent of repressed sexual hunger in one night.
It seems like I've given away too much, but there are plenty of happenings that keep the story moving. Some developments late in the film might be perceived as contrived, yet the movie has reeled us in so tightly by that point that I didn't mind. The film is also perspicacious in regards to love, yet the characters aren't neurotic "Grey's Anatomy" clones who pontificate over feelings to the point of nausea, but seemingly real people, both younger and older, some of who act on what they feel is right, and others who struggle to understand what went wrong.
Steve Carell adds credence to the notion that comedians make strong dramatic actors; he is able to convey so much through facial expressions alone. Ryan Gosling is equally effective. At first, Jacob seems to be taking pity on Cal, yet we sense a tinge of envy toward someone capable of both love and heartache. And Marisa Tomei proves yet again that no one can steal a scene quite like her. (You know how Hitchcock once said that a scene showing a group of men playing cards and a bomb goes off unexpectedly offers little suspense, but if the audience knows there's a ticking time bomb beneath the card table, the tension is palpable? Tomei is like that ticking time bomb. It's only a matter of time before she goes off, and we wait with bated breath until she does so.)
Directors Glen Ficarra and John Sequa ("I Love You Phillip Morris") have crafted a terrific comedy. Some may criticize the ending for being too idealistic. Sure, it's idealistic, but it's hard for a story about unbridled adoration to be too much so. (Just try putting love in perspective.) When a film is this funny and smart, I'm grateful for the idealism. The key to the movie's title is the commas that separate the words. "Crazy" and "stupid" aren't adjectives used to describe love. A comparison is being drawn between the words themselves. Some things in life drive us crazy. Other things make us feel stupid. And some things...
...well, that's just love.
* * * 1/2 out of * * * * stars
The story centers on the romantic entanglements of two men, and branches outward from there. The predominant characters are Cal Weaver (Steve Carell), a middle-aged suburbanite whose wife of twenty-five years, Emily (Julianne Moore) announces regretfully at dinner that she wants a divorce. And Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), a twenty-something Casanova who lives off of an inheritance and is so ridiculously good-looking that he can frequent the same bar every night and leave with a different woman without inviting mockery.
From there, we're introduced to other players in the high-stakes sport of love. Cal has a 13-year-old son (Jonah Bobo) yoked to romantic idealism. He's not shy about professing his adoration toward his 17-year-old babysitter (Analeigh Tipton). The babysitter, meanwhile, holds a torch for Cal, and sees an opportunity after learning of the split. After Cal moves out, Emily appears to want to explore a possible union with a co-worker named David (Kevin Bacon) to whom she engaged in a prior tryst, yet struggles with unresolved feelings. David is charming in his own way though prone to some unwise decision-making.
On the other side of the film's love bracket, Jacob's wanton lifestyle comes to a screeching halt when he falls for a lovely young law student named Hannah (Emma Stone). Hannah rebuffs Jacob's advances, priding herself on seeing through his womanizing ways. Yet her own relationship with a self-absorbed lawyer (Josh Groban) offers no fulfillment. "I need time to process how I feel about you for the long term," he unwisely confesses at one point. If he wasn't the shallowest man alive before that comment, he just managed to siphon a little more out of the pool.
To drown out his sorrows, Cal begins frequenting the same bar as Jacob. They meet, strike up a conversation, and the young stud agrees to help Cal out of his funk. This involves critiquing his entire appearance, from his sneakers ("Who are you, Steve Jobs?") to his clothing ("You're wearing a 44 when you should be wearing a 42 regular,") to his physical attributes ("The skin under your eyes is beginning to look like Hugh Hefner's ball sack.") After several lessons in being a pick-up artist, Cal re-enters the dating scene with a high school teacher (Marisa Tomei) who unleashes a torrent of repressed sexual hunger in one night.
It seems like I've given away too much, but there are plenty of happenings that keep the story moving. Some developments late in the film might be perceived as contrived, yet the movie has reeled us in so tightly by that point that I didn't mind. The film is also perspicacious in regards to love, yet the characters aren't neurotic "Grey's Anatomy" clones who pontificate over feelings to the point of nausea, but seemingly real people, both younger and older, some of who act on what they feel is right, and others who struggle to understand what went wrong.
Steve Carell adds credence to the notion that comedians make strong dramatic actors; he is able to convey so much through facial expressions alone. Ryan Gosling is equally effective. At first, Jacob seems to be taking pity on Cal, yet we sense a tinge of envy toward someone capable of both love and heartache. And Marisa Tomei proves yet again that no one can steal a scene quite like her. (You know how Hitchcock once said that a scene showing a group of men playing cards and a bomb goes off unexpectedly offers little suspense, but if the audience knows there's a ticking time bomb beneath the card table, the tension is palpable? Tomei is like that ticking time bomb. It's only a matter of time before she goes off, and we wait with bated breath until she does so.)
Directors Glen Ficarra and John Sequa ("I Love You Phillip Morris") have crafted a terrific comedy. Some may criticize the ending for being too idealistic. Sure, it's idealistic, but it's hard for a story about unbridled adoration to be too much so. (Just try putting love in perspective.) When a film is this funny and smart, I'm grateful for the idealism. The key to the movie's title is the commas that separate the words. "Crazy" and "stupid" aren't adjectives used to describe love. A comparison is being drawn between the words themselves. Some things in life drive us crazy. Other things make us feel stupid. And some things...
...well, that's just love.
* * * 1/2 out of * * * * stars
