"…Show Me Your Big Move..."It appears that Ryan Gosling is going to take over the world - or at least your living room - because the guy is 'everywhere'. And like Bradley Cooper about six months ago - everyone wants Ryan. And I mean everyone. And on the strength of "Drive" and this - it's easy to see why. Women are drooling over him - and guys want to be his drinking buddy.
Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling play Cal Weaver and Jacob Palmer - two polar-opposites in the cool stakes. Cal has only ever had one woman and wife - the beautiful but slightly wayward Emily (Julianne Moore). Jacob has had more women in an hour that politicians have had billable brunches. His prey is sophisticated but loose business types that frequent the bar Jacob hangs out in - women with the corporate finesse of a piranha that hasn't eaten in a week. When Cal stumbles into an ill-advised divorce because of one mistake on the part of Emily - he enters Jacob's world - and with advice that appeals to a man's ego - enters into way too many easy lays. His journey back to his true love makes up the rest of the movie...
Clearly relishing the witty and smartly written script - the two wildly different male leads spar off each other very convincingly. Julianne Moore is her usual classy self as always (such a great actress). There's even a tremendously clever and funny pairing of young love in the 13-year old Robbie (Cal's son) who is besotted with his 17-year old babysitter Jessica (great work by both Jonah Bobo and Analeigh Tipton). On the bumbling adult front - Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei bump up the cringe and laugh count too.
But for me it's the fabulous Emma Stone who brings the whole macho proceedings to life - and like her breakthrough performance in "Easy A" - she injects some badly needed reality into the picture. Her character's bubbly nature is infectious and her palatable vulnerability fills her love scenes with Gosling with a sense of danger and thrill. Stone's Hannah wants her heart fulfilled - not used - not shattered by some smarmy barfly out to chalk up another notch on the headboard of his waterbed. Stone's Hannah is nervous, giddy, talkative, loving, trusting - she gives Hannah a 'this-is-how-a-real-woman-is' set of reactions - and the movie is so much the better for it - warm even.
"Crazy, Stupid, Love" is not pretending to be "War And Peace" - but it's a hugely enjoyable romp when those sort of things seem to be in short supply these days. Besides - it passed the ultimate litmus test - my missus and teenage daughter gobbled up every moment of it and could not be tempted away - even by morsels of Cadbury's Twirl...
Do my girls want to discover the true meaning of love? Find out the joys of marital bliss? Bath in the wisdom of enlightened relationships? Do they bo**ox! They want to lick strawberry Haagen Daz off the Gozzer's rippling abs and YouTube the experience afterwards to make all their friends jealous. It's enough to make me go back to the gym (well now - let's not be too hasty my dears...).
In fact - now that I think of it - forget the review. Can somebody please slip some soluble ugly tablets into Ryan Gosling's Spritzer...and do all of us mere mortals a favour...
PS: my 18-year old daughter watched "The Notebook" for the 40th time immediately after it...
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