Crazy, Stupid, Love. Rated M (sexual references and infrequent coarse language). 118 minutes. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. Screenplay by Dan Fogelman.
With more than a hint of American Beauty envy, Crazy, Stupid, Love is only ever a moderately appealing film that ultimately fails to decide precisely how it wants us to feel. There are certainly some interesting story strands (a young boy’s first hopelessly awkward infatuation with his baby-sitter is beautifully done), but they all suffer from feeling as though Mr Fogelman (Cars, Entangled) has tied them all together in knots. Really tight knots.
When Emily Weaver (Julianne Moore in teary mode) tells her doting, everyman husband Cal (Steve Carell) that she wants a divorce, Cal immediately ends up drowning his sorrows in a bar. Enter Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) who takes the bereft Cal under his wing before hatching a plan (which includes the film’s winning make-over sequence) to help his new protégé win back the woman of his dreams.
Mr Ficarra and Mr Requa (Bad Santa, I Love You Phillip Morris) both succeed in being unable to bring any real levity and humour to the proceedings, and the uneven pacing and a lack of lightness of touch results in a film that ends up plodding through its almost two hour running time. The exceptions are the marvellous performances by Jonah Bobo (as the Weaver’s love-struck son, Robbie) and Analeigh Tipton (as the object of young Robbie’s infatuation, Jessica). When the film momentarily diverts its attention from the sombre Cal (played in deadly earnest by Mr Carell), it begins to resemble something we could be interested in – but sadly, not for long.
Mr Gosling (Half Nelson, The Notebook) slinks through in stud mode, but is totally unconvincing when Jacob finds himself unexpectedly bitten by the true love bug – delivered courtesy of the feisty Hannah (Zombieland's Emma Stone), who challenges him to drop the sex god act and reveal more about his personal feelings. This storyline ends up suffocating in its own ordinariness, which might have been the point.
It’s not until the film slows to a complete halt in the middle of its convenient and contrived conclusion that you realise you haven’t laughed much, if at all. You might also walk away remembering what a stunning film American Beauty was – if only by comparison.
Pictured: Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in Crazy, Stupid, Love.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
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