Back in college there was a wonderful little movie theater about 15 minutes from campus off of 741. The place was called Kendig Square Cinema and it was a multiplex that showed second run movies. It was a great way to spend an evening and it only cost 2 dollars a showing. This past weekend I was out near Lancaster and decided to find my way back to that theater and catch a movie that somehow eluded me throughout the summer. The dingy atmosphere, the sound of the projector rolling, the front theater speakers, and old seating were a trip down memory lane and on top of that, I saw a great little film that deserves a ton of attention.
I suppose one could dismiss my affinity for the film as me being swept up in the nostalgia of the day but I would declare those people off base. Crazy Stupid Love is an intelligent romantic comedy that manages to pull the rare feat of being both romantic AND comedic.
We've all been in love- or at least felt like we were- at some point in our lives. In those moments of romance we are tunnel visioned into thinking that nothing will ever go wrong. The ones we love will always love us, or return the favor, and once you are in it, you never have to experience what it feels like to not be in it again. Of course that is a bit of a pipe dream because love sometimes (unfortunately) doesn't last. This movie focuses on what happens in those moments. How does one put back together the pieces when the thing that they thought shaped their point of view has been destroyed?
Cal Weaver (Steve Carrell) is married to his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) and has three kids. One day she suddenly says she wants a divorce and Cal's life is tossed into disarray. He doesn't believe the news and neither do his kids. Trying to recover from this he ends up spending multiple nights in an upscale lounge talking to himself after his awkward failed attempts to chat with women. In general, opening with, "My wife left me," isn't a good thing. While at the bar one night Cal is spotted by Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) who takes pity on Cal and decides to impart his wisdom onto him. For Jacob, love is a thing best kept far away from. He sees women as conquests and spends his nights talking his way into women's pants. (And because he looks like Ryan Gosling it comes easy for him).
Jacob gets Cal a new wardrobe and gives him the tools he feels one needs in order to score with women. Cal, despite his best efforts to mess it up, works his magic on Kate (Marisa Tomei) one night at the bar by hitting her with the line that, "(She) is the perfect mix of hot and cute." It's a good line and I'm sure some women would be enthralled to be told that. Problem is that it is a line that Cal has used before in his life which comes back to haunt him.
Further complicating manners are the fact that Cal's 13 year old son Robbie is in love with his 17 year old babysitter, who is in love with Cal. For Robbie, he feels grand gestures are the best way to win a woman's heart. It's a method that I've tried in the past but it is one that you need to figure out how the girl feels about you first. If she isn't interested you just come off creepy. Robbie's babysitter, gets advice from a girl at school about her own grand gesture for Cal but because she is not totally sold on the idea it comes off poorly. Robbie and his babysitter have similar trappings. They want to be in love and they have what they think it is, but they are being fooled by the idea of being in love and not love itself. This causes their actions to take some wild detours.
Jacob gets his world turned upside down when he meets a girl at the lounge named Hannah (Emma Stone) who resists his advances. This confuses Jacob. He only knows success and having someone deflect his advances offers a sense of intrigue and appeal. It is only natural that he is intensely drawn to the one girl he can't have. This also sends Jacob on the opposite path as Cal. Both are moving because of love, but in different directions. When you add in all the other side stories moving in opposite directions it can only lead to the inevitable spot where all the stories crash into each other and the viewer gets the entire puzzle shown to them. This isn't a mystery by any stretch but when you realize what exactly is happening it catches you off guard and asks you to reflect on your own beliefs about what has happened up to that point.
The most refreshing part about this story is that it is written as an adult love story for adults. The characters are not treated stupidly here. They do dumb things but it isn't some plot contrived event, it happens because they are following their heart blindly and not listening to reason. Anyone who has ever felt love can identify with that. Essentially what you have here is a film that focuses on love and then looks at it from multiple genders, ages, and perspectives. You are bound to find someone to connect with here. That alone is an achievement because too often these films paint characters in unflattering light. Here we have a movie littered with sympathetic characters. Even David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon) who has the affair with Emily is painted with a soft brush. He isn't some co-worker prowling over some married woman. She was looking to cheat and needed attention and David happened to be there at the right time for that to happen.
Up and down this film there are nothing but great performances. Carrell finds a sweet balance between a man hopeful and desperate to keep together what he has. Moore and Bacon play their parts well. Tomei is all spastic energy and her scenes are some of the funniest in the film. Emma Stone is a fantastic actress and as long as she doesn't shoot herself off the rails she will be one of the best actresses of her generation. The real find here is Gosling though. He finds good spaces for this part and infuses a lecherous man with enough heart and goodwill that you are on his side. You want to be in the bar watching him at work and as a guy with little luck with women, I wish I could be as smooth as him.
This is a great little film and I encourage you to find this in theaters yet or catch it on television. It is a breezy way to spend two hours.
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