Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Writer: Dan Fogelman (Screenplay)
Starring: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, Joey King, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon
Plot: A middle-aged husband’s life changes dramatically when his wife asks him for a divorce. He seeks to rediscover his manhood with the help of a newfound friend, Jacob, learning to pick up girls at bars.
Tagline – This Is Love
Runtime: 1 Hour 58 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Brilliant Look at Love
Story: Crazy, Stupid, Love starts when Cal (Carell) gets given a bombshell by his wife Emily (Moore) wanting a divorce after cheating on him. Cal finds himself down on his luck in a bar with his story dragging the atmosphere in the bar down until Jacob (Gosling) a confident womaniser who spends every night in the bar picking up woman, who offers to help Cal get back on his feet.
As Cal starts to learn from Jacob, he starts to reflect on his own life, looking to meet women including Kate (Tomei), as both Cal and Emily look back on their relationship on what could have happened, with Jacob setting his sights on young lawyer Hannah (Stone) who might finally be someone who can help him see life in a new view.
Thoughts on Crazy, Stupid, Love
Characters – Cal is the loving father and husband that gets the news of a divorce, seeing his old life shattered in front of his own eyes. He takes things badly spending his time in the bar moaning about his life, until Jacob shows him how to become more confident again, meeting women and starting again. Jacob is a womaniser who always looks for a different woman in his local bar where he has the routine down to an art form, he takes Cal under his wing to teach him how to get the best out of himself after his divorce, bringing out the confidence in him, while learning to understand how to get the most out of his life. Emily is the wife to Cal that cheats on him before asking for a divorce, it is her way of admitting things have become stale between the two, she does find herself regretting what is going on believing there could still be a chance for the two.
Performances – Steve Carell is great to watch in a comedy drama any day of the week, he can handle to comedy and serious side of the film with ease. Julianne Moore is great to see too, with Ryan Gosling being the confident guy being perfect for his role in the film. Emma stone is great too in the support role getting the laughs with her characters awkwardness in everything.
Story – The story here follows a serious of people who are having problems with love, be it the divorcing couple, the confident guy and the person who going to be missing out on true love because of schedule in life. We do get to see how love can make people do stupid things in life and just how it can make people change, where you need to change to understand just how important it truly is to you. We do seem to focus on the male side of love rather than the female side of everything, which can be misleading to how it shows that only men can do things wrong.
Comedy/Romance – The comedy in this film comes from seeing how Cal must learn a lot from Jacob, as well as seeing the subplots getting laughs with how things unfold. The romance in this film shows us just how love can unfold in mysterious way, it can make you do silly things, making mistakes and laugh along the way.
Settings – The film uses the everyday life settings, with the bar being key to showing the change in Cal, with the rest reflecting just how routine his life had become.
Scene of the Movie – The surprise dinner.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It shows only the men needing to change.
Final Thoughts –This is an enjoyable comedy that will get plenty of laughs, along with the romance showing us just how complicated love can be.
Overall: Enjoyable.
