Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Bottom Line: Pretty crazy, admittedly stupid, utterly lovable.
Directed by: Glenn Ficcara, John Requa
Starring: Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell
Offbeat romantic dramedy about Cal Weaver (Steve Carell), a happily married man. Or so it seems. One night, he is out at dinner. He asks his wife (Julianne Moore) what she wants for dessert and she proclaims, “I want a divorce!” After that incident, Cal begins visiting the bar every night, complaining about how his wife cheated on him for her co-worker, David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon). Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), another nightly visitor to the bar, hears him whining and calls him over. Not to tell him to shut up, but to teach him his womanizing skills and introduce him to a world of picking up women at the bar. (He uses an analogy often that he is Miyagi from THE KARATE KID.) Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Cal, his adult daughter Hannah (Emma Stone) is starting up a relationship with none other than Jacob.
Had there not been a few impressively unique aspects to this film, which is more like a lengthened cross between a sitcom and a soap opera, it would be your conventional rom-com and nothing more. Maybe the greatest it has to offer is how the script addresses the routine of films of the genre, at times. Take, as an example, the scene in which Cal and his wife have just come back from a parent-teacher-conference-turned-heated-argument. We always see attempted humor in rom-coms when men make blunders and say things they don’t mean in front of their wives. In this sequence, it’s taken to a whole new level. Cal is trying to explain to his wife that before their marriage, she is the only one he has made love with, but at that point the number has increased. He accidentally tells her that he has now had one night stands with eight women, excluding his 25-year-long marriage. It gets better, less subtle. As his wife leaves, it begins raining heavily. We don’t have time to complain about how typical it is for a rom-com, because Carell’s character takes care of it for us: “What a cliché.”
Something else that sets this apart from the standard, spat-out rom-com that has become ridiculously common in today’s day in age, is the number of pleasing performances it holds. Carell has his usual, straightforward character (I don’t know why, but I was reminded of his character in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE when he jumped out of a moving automobile in the beginning); and Gosling has an amusing, sometimes even parodical performance as a seductive womanizer. The mother of all performances must be that from Marisa Tomei. She is happily one of the (8) women involved in a one-night stand with Cal…until he and she both discover that his son is in her eighth grade English class. Then she goes into a crazy (stupid) rant that is the perfect blend of funny and intimidating. It makes us wish she had a larger role, but she holds up the movie pretty well.
CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. is something I can easily recommend to everyone–that is, if you can get past the craze and mild stupidity. The rom-com genre blend (which, in its mainstream popularity, is more like one singular genre) may be the only one that doesn’t embody an even account of the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are so few good (thank God for Woody Allen!), and we’ve been monstrously hounded by the bad and the ugly. It’s nice, therefore, to see a rom-com that diverges from the genre’s clichéd routine, goes off as something new, and flaunts its ability to shine as something that isn’t a chuckling schmaltzfest.
Nice review. This was a surprisingly good rom-com from last year. Great writing and acting. I actually think this movie featured Gosling’s best work from 2011.
Did you see Drive? I’ve heard he was good there, too. I know you saw The Ides of March, also with him; that’s still high up on my list.
Yeah, I saw it and I liked it but I think he did better here. I really liked Ides of March but wasn’t crazy about his performance there. He kinda just opened his eyes real wide.
Still can’t decide where Emma Stone did better last year: The Help or this.
I’d say The Help. But she was terribly overhadowed by Davis, Spencer and Chastain.
Loved Viola Davis (as usual) and Octavia Spencer, but I still can’t see what was so great about Jessica Chastain. She played Celia Foote, right? I don’t remember her performance being terribly strong; I think I saw her as maybe a bit too upbeat. She did well, don’t get me wrong, just not what I would categorize as great.
Yeah, some prefered her work in Tree of Life. Like I said, I thought her performance in The Help was the best in the movie and one of the best of the year. The Academy seems to agree with me on this one (sort of).
I might have to see The Help again, then. I have it on DVD, so it shouldn’t be too hard. I might like her performance there and in the Tree of Life. I wish the Academy was like the Razzies and nominated actors for multiple films. But then again, they don’t have much of a sense of humor. (Still laughing that the Razzies nominated Sandler for Worst Actress and Worst Actor for Jack and Jill, AND nominated it for Worst Rip-off, as a rip off of Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda? Haha)
Haha, he deserves it for making that awful movie (not that I saw it). I think he won every award he was nominated for, right?
Didn’t check on that, but I will. It’s likely. But Jack and Jill got the most nominations (12) and the most wins (10) at the Razzies! They must’ve REALLY hated it, haha! How’d we get from Ryan Gosling to Adam Sandler??
Haha, I don’t know. The progression doesn’t make sense!
Oh. I’m looking on a mobile device on the WP app, so it makes more sense there. Maybe I should try looking at the site and see how the progression looks there. Ahh, the wonder of tangents!
I went back and saw how we got there. We were talking about Gosling, which led to Emma Stone, which led to The Help, which led to Jessica Chastain, which led to you saying that the Academy should nominate actors for multiple performances which led to the Razzies and Adam Sandler.
That’s crazy.
He actually lost an award, I guess. He won for Worst Actor (Jack and Jill/Just Go with It), Worst Actress (Jack and Jill), shared award for Worst Screen Couple (Jack and Jill), and shared award for Worst Screenplay (Jack and Jill). He was nominated, but didn’t win, for another shared Worst Screen Couple award with Jennifer Aniston (Just Go with It). On top of that, he produced Bucky Larson and Zookeeper, which also carried multiple nominations. He must’ve had a tough year…
Yikes. Those are not good things to have on one’s resumé!
Yeah, they were so caught up with nominating (and awarding) J&J for everything that only two on my worst list were nominated: Twilight and Abduction.
I quite liked this one as well!
http://andywatchesmovies.com/2012/03/06/crazy-stupid-love-1612/
Nice review!
This was a a nice romantic film. One of the better ones last year.
Great review man. I notice you have a special mention for Marisa Tomei. I thought she was superb.
As you know, I agree very much with your thoughts here. I always get a big grin on my face when I come across a romcom that’s actually good. So few of them!