‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ (2011)

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Of its three-word title, this one matches two out of three (wanna’ guess which two those are?) of the word’s definitions. The third, and most important, appears to be missing from the story’s message. This is kind of like a modern Casanova story that the woes of a 25-year marriage tries to counterbalance. crazy, stupid, love

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) Film Review

For twenty-five years, she’s been his soul mate, but Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) never expects the bombshell his wife drops on him during their dinner date. Instead of dessert, Emily (Julianne Moore) announces she wants a divorce. On the car ride home, Emily rambles on while Cal sits silently in shock in response to her confounding omission, then she confesses to Cal that it’s as a result of another man (Kevin Bacon).

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Depressed and questioning just where he went wrong, Cal leaves without so much as asking for a chance. Walking out of their house where they created a home for their children (Jonah Bobo, Joey King), Cal rents a small apartment and attempts to move on. Cal decides the best way to cope is to sit night after night at the bar while drowning his sorrows. Enter Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling).

Jake is a charming ladies’ man who spends his nights at the bar picking up any woman he wants. This is when Jacob decides to help Cal get back into the “game.” Cal’s a skeptic but Jacob knows the rules and he will see that Cal makes his wife regret everything. The only snag in Jacob’s plans is Hannah (Emma Stone), the one girl bold enough not to take any of Jacob’s nonsense.

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Although it really isn’t one that deserves any acclaim, this romantic-comedy received five-star reviews from a good number of mainstream critics. Unfortunately, it’s not difficult to understand their tolerance of this romantic comedy. This movie is running amuck with skewed topics and immoralities but somehow, I did enjoy it. The fact this bases its entire philosophy off the premise that it’s “okay” to mess around as long as it makes one happy is sad. Fortunately, the second half of the movie is much superior to the first, or maybe it’s more like the last fourth of it. Aside from the scenes in a club, there is a teenage love triangle subplot that’s tacky and not handled well. This is one of the film’s greatest flaws.

Additionally in the big-star cast list, we see Marisa Tomei and newcomer Analeigh Tipton, whom everyone is raving about. Really, everyone gives a great performance (including the always fabulous Emma Stone, The Help). Even I, who isn’t a Steve Carell fan, think he’s good in the role. When the script is good, it’s good, but there is almost too much bad behavior to make this recommendable. If you don’t mind this kind of comedy, Crazy, Stupid, Love does entice some laughs. Otherwise, the best advice I can give is, perhaps this isn’t the movie for you, after all it is crazy.

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CONTENT: There are a handful of semi-graphic sexual situations [Cal takes home a woman, and they awkwardly experiment with oral sex and French kissing]; a dozen scenes depict Jacob and later, Cal takes home random women from the bar. A young teen takes nude photos of herself, which end up in the hands of a teen boy. There are references to a number of sexual acts [one of which involves a teen]. Hannah refutes Jacob’s interest but later it’s implied they sleep together – on more than one occasion [there is barely avoided nudity in three or four scenes]. The movie includes two f-words and one partial in addition to milder swear words like sh*t, h*ll, da*n, various misuses of God’s name in vain among other crudities [including but not limited to references to the anatomy]. Drinking is also prevalent. This film is PG13.

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