Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Greetings again from the darkness. From the opening scene it is clear we aren't in for a typically lame rom-com with caricatures instead of characters and punchlines instead of feelings. Instead, this one is all about the characters and their feelings ... realistic feelings of pain, anger, hope and frustration. Now don't misunderstand. It doesn't go too deep and there is still plenty of humor in the moments.

Cal (Steve Carell) and Emily (Julianne Moore) are sharing one of their many restaurant moments over the course of their long, steady marriage. Only this time, something spoils the comfort zone. Emily says she wants a divorce and later tells Cal that she had an affair with a co-worker (Kevin Bacon). What follows is as close to real life reactions as we could ever hope for in a rom-com. Cal is hurt. The kids are angry. Emily is confused. Their friends take sides.

The intertwining story lines and characters are both sad and funny. We see how people react when they are attracted to others ... or not. We see how people react when they wonder if their decision was rash. We see how basically nice people try to do the right thing for themselves and others, but still mess it up sometimes.

After moving out, Cal heads to a local upscale lounge that seems to be stocked with gorgeous women and only a handful of men ... every night. In real life, the line of men waiting to enter would be wrapped around the block. Still, one of the regulars is Jacob, played by Ryan Gosling. He is a thing of beauty to look at it and always quick with just the right line. His science is making women believe he cares about nothing but them. Cal is discouraged by Jacob's incredible success rate. Jacob notices Cal's negative vibe and agrees to train him. But first, the makeover ... wardrobe, haircut and conversation skills.

The polar opposite effect of what you might expect from Hollywood - these nice people begin to question their direction. Cal longs for Emily. Emily still thinks about Cal, but dates her co-worker. The son (Jonah Bobo) has a crush on the older baby-sitter, who has a crush of her own. Even Jacob falls hard for new attorney Hannah (Emma Stone) who has just walked out on her wet rag boyfriend (Josh Groban) who offered her a job, rather than a ring. Oh what a tangled web we weave. And that's just the stuff I can tell you! Cal's first conquest utilizing his newly learned skills is a teacher played with full energy by the terrific Marisa Tomei. She only has a couple of scenes, but as usual, Ms. Tomei makes the most of her screen time. The baby sitter is played well by Analeigh Tipton, but it's interesting to note (in real life) she is 3 days younger than law school grad Hannah (Stone).

All of the actors are top notch here. Steve Carell continues to get better ... this is a superior movie to Date Night (with Tina Fey). Julianne Moore is solid, though her character is mostly mopey. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are both outstanding. Gosling is none for mostly offbeat, dark independent films but shows again how easily he slides back into sex symbol. Ms. Stone is headed for super-stardom. She was really good in Easy A and has a star-making turn in the upcoming film The Help. After that, it's on to the new Spider-Man for her.

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are the co-directors and were responsible for the much less mainstream I Love You Phillip Morris, with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. Surprisingly the film was written by Dan Fogelman, who is known for his script writing on the animated Cars movies.

No question women will enjoy the film, but the surprise is, many men will relate to what's going on with the Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling characters. There is enough humor to keep everyone happy and enough strong writing to say this is a very good movie.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. is one of, if not the best, American romantic comedies of the past decade. This may come as a shock to some (as it surely took me aback) but there is no other way to describe it. Going into an advanced screening of the film earlier this week, I had my doubts that it would be anything outside of generic. But instead of tripe, I got one of the most unexpected surprises I have seen all year.

Cal (Steve Carell) and Emily (Julianne Moore) have hit a rough patch in their long-time marriage, and Emily inadvertently announces to an entire restaurant that she wants a divorce. Down and depressed, Cal starts drinking away his sorrows at a local bar, attempting to make sense of his predicament with anyone who will listen. Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a professional bachelor, takes notice and makes it his personal mission to help Cal get over his wife, and become a new man in the process.

But this is just the main plot thread of the movie. It also follows Jacob's relationship with the absolutely stunning Hannah (Emma Stone), throws in a bit of curveball with Emily being romanced by David (Kevin Bacon), and even has a bit of a focus on Cal's son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) pining over his older babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton). It may sound a little packed with threads and too many characters, but Crazy, Stupid, Love. is able to navigate between each character and couple with ease. It reminded me a lot of Valentine's Day, and how its main goal was to depict how different love is for a sizable amount of couples and singletons. Except it failed miserably at it, and stood out more as an example of every rom-com stereotype you could imagine. Thankfully, Crazy, Stupid, Love. takes the higher road and breathes new life into a stale genre.

While the impeccable cast is more than enough reason why the film succeeds so well in being an atypical film in the genre, it is the crew behind-the-scenes that surprises even more. The film is written by Dan Fogelman, who is best known for a string of Disney films and the atrocious Fred Claus, and is directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who wrote and directed the sadly little seen I Love You Phillip Morris and wrote the now classic Bad Santa. These three would not be the first group on men I would turn to for a film like this, but their relative lack of expertise helps propel the film to the heights it reaches. It takes darkly hilarious turns in certain instances, plays other sequences totally unconventionally, play even more out with a foreboding sense of drama the trailer merely hints at, and trumps more than its share of genre stereotypes. Weaving between the plots lines, they make the film feel unique and different from others, all while giving it an aura of authenticity. While they stumble a bit in the final act with a series of sitcom-like shockers that border on ludicrous, they manage to pull off the rare feat of actually making the audience wonder if these characters will all end up together in the end, or if they will walk their separate ways; something that is truly uncommon for this genre.

Acting wise, the film delivers in spades. Carell gives one of his best performances to date as Cal, moving as swiftly as the script requires between depression and humiliation, and touching and hilarious. The film stretches his dramatic muscle more than most, and allows him to give a performance that does not rely on laughs. The expressions on his face are just devastating in some sequences, and the wonder in other scenes is ridiculously hilarious. It is a performance I hope to see him come back to again, and make even better. Gosling plays against type, and gives an absolutely hysterical performance. He shines brightly in every scene, nailing every line and mannerism, while making this scumbag of a lothario become someone to really care about. He exudes chemistry and helps make everyone else's performance better. Moore and Stone also give great performances, easily balancing the humour with the drama. They are not given nearly as much to do as the guys, but hold their own on- screen.

The supporting cast does even better. Bobo is phenomenal in his role, conveying an innocence and naivety that is more mature than I thought possible. He acts like more of an adult than some of the older cast does in many instances, and gives the performance a well-rounded other young actors would be incapable of. Tipton is not nearly as good, but plays the role of a confused teenager a little better than you would imagine. Bacon does great in a small turn as does Liza Lapira as Hannah's best friend. But it is Marisa Tomei who steals the show from everyone, playing one of Cal's conquests. She is dementedly unhinged and ridiculously over-the-top, but never falters. Her performance may be one-note, but it is easily the most memorable thing about the film.

If I hold anything against the film (other than the final act stumble and the oh-so convenient way one particular scene comes together), it is that it ended. I know I have harped on how unlike other typical romantic comedies Crazy, Stupid, Love. is, but there is really no other way I can rave about it. I easily could have spent more time with these characters, and pined to find out what happened to each of them after the final fade out. The incredibly unlikely pair of Ficarra and Requa has crafted a truly wonderful and hilarious film that is nothing like what you could have expected watching the trailer. It is bittersweet, and easily one of my favourite movies of the summer. And this is coming from someone who loathes almost every single romantic comedy ever conceived.

8.5/10.

When it all comes together in an ensemble romantic comedy, it takes a great script, spot-on casting, inspired acting, timing, synergy, and brilliant direction. Crazy, Stupid Love has it all. Arguably, the best romantic-comedy of the new millennium era, CSL synchronized two directors and a screenwriter who had all previously been noted for their top success in animation films and television including the 'Cars' franchise, 'Tangled' and 'Angry Beavers' (in addition to non-animation film), along with the brilliant Casting Director Icon Cindy Marin who had casted 'Juno' a few years earlier.

The casting could not have been better, and with the inclusion of Kevin Bacon, connects the film (within 7-degrees of Bacon) to generations of great romantic comedies.

I can count on one hand the number of great romantic comedies in film since 2000 - they are rare, hard to pull off, and this is one of the very best. TV Series are a much better platform for comedy, as the comic moments can be spliced together without having the wrap a complete linear story around it in just two hours - TV is 30 minutes of gags; next episode.

Pulling-off a quality 2-hour story like this one, within the comedy genre (that is both sexy-sweet and funny at the same time;) requires effectively synchronizing a lot of moving parts.

Everyone involved in the production of CSL brought their A-Game, and it shows.

The key tandem in the film's success is Steve Carrell/Ryan Gosling - Without those two delivering the goods, the film would have failed.

They deliver big-time, making this Buddy-Film disguised as a Romantic-Comedy an all-time film arts success.

The Carrell/Gosling best-buddy relationship centers around a man in his 40's (Carrell) in the process of being separated from his middle-school sweetheart and first-and-only-love wife (Julianne Moore), reluctantly entering the modern singles dating world for the first time in his life.

He is completely unprepared and out of step with the times and the game, but runs into the Yoda or "Miyagi" master of ladies-men (Gosling) at a popular local singles bar, who decides to take him under his wing and mentor him in the ways of successfully meeting younger women after observing his wallowing in breakup pain and ineptitude in the singles game. The Pygmalion-like tutoring and transformation is truly brilliant fun to watch.

A complex intertwining connection of the entire cast starts to reveal itself piece by piece, and the hilarious apex of the film is one of the most memorable pay-off moments in comedy-film history.

The supporting cast orbits around the two new-best-friend buddies, and their acting excellence results in CSL rating as one of the all-time great ensemble comedies.

This was the first of three (as of 2021) successful movie pairings of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, each subsequent project propelling both into higher orbits of superstardom - the third pairing 'La La Land' resulted in multiple award nominations, including an Oscar win for Stone, and with Hollywoods penchant for staying with winning formulas, it is likely we shall see more of these two together in film.

CSL fits the new millennial era culture well, and perhaps years from now will seem dated to this period (filmed right before the dating App explosion that occurred from 2012-2015 that replaced and swiped-away bar meetups, it is already aging in that regard). This just means everyone "got it" during its production, and certainly transferred that "get" to the screen with notable comic skill.

On my IMDb list of Top 25 Best Comedy Buddy Films.

Needless to say, I "highly recommended" 'Crazy, Stupid Love', and give it the proverbial two thumbs up! 👍👍

You know usually I'm not into romantic comedies, as I find that most of them fall short & are extremely cheesy. I really liked this movie though. One of the great things about it, is the acting is great. Everyone plays their part perfectly and you actually kind of feel for them in their individual situations. Usually when I think of Steve Carell, I think of a jokester. He was great in his serious scenes though, very believable. And Ryan Gosling, Oh my goodness, Ryan Gosling. He has always been one of my favorite actors. He plays a ladies man in this movie, trying to get Carell back on his feet after splitting with his wife. The two of them have great chemistry together and provide plenty of laughs, along with touching moments. I just saw this movie yesterday and I already want to see it again. That almost never happens that I want to see a movie again right away. Very cute. This movie has a little bit of everything and I think that most people would enjoy it. 9/10!

I wasn't sure if I wanted to see this movie at the theater,but I am really glad I did. The characters are well played out, not very likable at first, but after you get to know the cast, you really feel for everyone. I thought Julianne Moore & Steve Carrell had great chemistry with their relationship. Super script, nice directing, great casting with Robbie, the son. This movie will surprise you at how good it is. I loved how you saw the characters at work, at home, at the bar & with their friends. This was very well played out & comes together in the end extremely well. Ryan Gosling is very hot even when he is sleazy. Great date night movie!!