Movie Review: Crazy Stupid Love

If you're like me, then you were devastated when Steve Carell left "The Office".

How could they let him do that? Couldn't they handcuff him to something? It was like Lucy leaving "Lucy" or Johnny Carson leaving "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" or Charlie Sheen leaving "Two and a Half Men" or when Elizabeth Berkeley left "Saved by the Bell." Fortunately, just like Liz popped up in "Showgirls" and Charlie popped up in the tabloids, Steve has popped up in this wonderful movie, directed by the same guys who did "I Love You, Phillip Morris."

Incidentally, for you kids out there, don't smoke, it's bad for you.

Take a look at the poster for the movie and that wonderful cast: Carell, Gosling, Moore, Stone, Tomei, Bacon. If you use each letter of their last name as an acronym, that's CGMSTB. So, Could Guys Make Something That Bitchin'? Sorry for the cursing, but my oh my that's a dream cast. I bet if you read interviews, they will all say what a great time they had working with each other because when actors that good get together they always have a great time working.

Steve plays Cal Weaver. He's been married to his high school sweetheart, Emily (Julianne Moore), for twenty-five years and they've hit a rough patch. One day as they're driving home, Emily announces that she's slept with somebody and Cal jumps out of the moving car, unable to take it anymore. That's how numb Cal is. He can't feel anything anymore. Emily asks for a divorce and suddenly Cal is thrown from married life into the dating scene with no idea what to do because he hasn't dated in twenty-five years.

Fortunately, Cal hangs out at a bar where hunky hunka hunkman, Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), woos the ladies and Cal talks to him one day and suddenly Cal is Jacob's wingman and Jacob is teaching him all about what's out there for him, how to act, how to dress, and generally how to be more attractive to women.

Ah, yes, the dating world is so incredibly difficult these days. There's so much to know. What's fantastic about this movie is how it distinguishes between the kind of "love" Jacob practices and the kind of love Cal knows in his heart. It even explores infatuation, which is what happens with Cal's 13-year-old son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), who falls for his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton). Even as Cal meets Kate (Marisa Tomei), he finds himself pining for what he had. The story is further complicated when Jacob meets Hannah (Emma Stone), who doesn't buy in to all his games.

And what about that Emma Stone? Is she not the breath of fresh air young Hollywood has been waiting for? She's so cute and interesting - she's like that breath after two mints and a gargle of Listerine. She's fab.

I love how the tables got turned in this movie because at first Jacob teaches Cal everything he knows, but then finds himself in a situation where he really wants something for the first time - thinks a girl is more than just a casual fling - and suddenly it's Cal that has something to teach Jacob because it's Cal that has the experience with real relationships, not the superficial ones Jacob has.

It's the kind of table-turning plot development that makes me cry, not because I'm sad, but because I'm just so joyful to know that you can live a pretty conservative life and still have something to teach a hunk. I've been trying to tell hunks that, but they don't seem to believe me, so now I'm going to tell them to go see "Crazy Stupid Love" and then they'll know and they'll say "Aha! She was right!" and boy will that be awesome and when I approach them randomly at bars, they won't be so likely to run away.

The dynamics of the movie are wonderful. It's particularly gratifying to watch as Jacob becomes emotionally unhinged as his game doesn't work on Hannah and he's forced to confront the wall he's put up. What we learn is that Jacob's game-playing is as much an emotional wall as Cal's wall, which is mostly built up from time and monotony and a lack of appreciation for what he's got, which doesn't come until after he's lost it.

What's also wonderful are Ryan Gosling's naked abs, which are each like a piece of heaven, which we get to see on a couple different occasions, and which Hannah comments look like they were photoshopped. This is, of course, a metaphor for Jacob's entire persona, which begins to seem fake once he starts trying to have a real relationship. But still, seeing Ryan's naked upper half was the next best thing to getting a free lap dance from a Chippendale. I had such a wide smile on my face that I had to use my 128 ounce Coke cup to keep my drool from overflowing onto the floor.

And yes, I was embarrassed carrying a 128-ounce cup of drool out of the theater, but it really could have been so much worse. Can you say "wet panties"?

But perhaps more than the dynamics being wonderful, is how unexpected the performances are. Ryan Gosling is not known for his comedy, but he's quite funny here. And Steve Carell isn't exactly known for his dramatic acting, yet he's heartfelt and touching in both his realizations about his failures and in his relationship with his children. You just want to reach out and give Steve a hug and tell him that he can work through his problems. And wanting to reach out and touch Ryan, well that's kind of a given. Did I mention he takes his shirt off? This was a film that clearly needed to be in 3D.

"Crazy Stupid Love" is one of those rare movies that combines great comedy with incisive, real-life analysis. It's crazy, stupid good.