Synopsis
At fortysomething, straight-laced Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) is living the dream—good job, nice house, great kids and marriage to his high school sweetheart. But when Cal learns that his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), has cheated on him and wants a divorce, his “perfect” life quickly unravels.
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In today’s single world, Cal, who hasn’t dated in decades, stands out as the epitome of un-smooth. Spending his free evenings sulking alone at a local bar, the hapless Cal is taken on as wingman and protégé to handsome lothario Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling). In an effort to help Cal get over his wife and start living his life, Jacob opens Cal’s eyes to the many options before him: flirty women, manly drinks and a sense of style that can’t be found at Supercuts or The Gap.
Cal and Emily aren’t the only ones looking for love in what might be all the wrong places: Cal’s 13-year-old son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), is in love with his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), who harbors a major crush of her own… on Cal. And even Jacob’s new-woman-every-night modus operandi is challenged when he tries his best lines on Hannah (Emma Stone), a girl he just can’t seem to get out of his mind—maybe because she’s the first woman he’s ever met who doesn’t think this professional player has any game.
There was a lot going on in this film. That might have been the problem with it. The movie starts out pretty simplistically, as Moore’s Emily simply tells Carell’s Cal that she wants a divorce and that she has cheated on him. It’s happened dozens of times in films and this set-up is nothing new. Cal silently goes off the deep end and loses his place in life, while Emily does her best to cover her emotions and move on. Cal is quickly picked up by Gosling’s Jacob, a ‘playa’, who helps Cal get back on his feet and reinvent himself; this is completely believable, as most soon-to-be divorced men would allow themselves to be reinvented. No one wants to be the same when the same clearly isn’t working. At this point, everything in the film is flowing along swimmingly.
From there this is also where the waters get rough.
Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa seem to get lost with what they want to do with Cal and Jacob. They also get very lost with how to handle Emily. Cal seems to go through this destructive phase where he is trying to find himself through women and booze, only to end up back where he started. That sounds good in hindsight, but what that disrupts is Jacob, who has mentored Cal into a system that works for him. Jacob becomes less of a factor in Cal’s life, though he never truly falls from grace in the film. What’s even worse, is that Jacob abandons the lost Cal, who can’t seem to get a clear direction of where he should go next. It’s odd because the set-up was perfect and the execution ended up fine, but it just seems to get lost somewhere and the film never recovers its characters. It’s a shame, as Carell does a great job with Cal by showing a very clear and concise range of appropriate emotions for a man trying to get back in the saddle. When he reaches the end of those emotions he just completely dries up in the story and, again, just becomes completely lost with what he should be doing next.
As for Moore’s Emily, she is the victim of the film. Of course, she shouldn’t be the victim in the film. From the moment she reveals to Cal that she cheated on him, we (the audience) are instantly disliking her. She cheated on this man and destroyed him, therefore she cannot control what happens to this man after the first scene. And yet, she is firmly in control by the middle of the movie and even worse she is trying to draw sympathy from the audience. Be it directly or indirectly, her need for sympathy (especially towards the end) is out of place. Her character doesn’t deserve nor should she be looking for it. Whatever Cal does is immediately okay because of the first scene between the couple. Regretfully, the directors and writer seemed to go against the grain, which makes her character and the whole ‘divorce scenario’ very unbelievable. The movie is misdirected and very misinformed with how a separated couple acts and what their respectful roles are when a situation like this is presented. Moore does a great job as Emily, but ultimately the story fails her.
With that said, the movie has some great comedic and dramatic moments to deliver strong performances. It uses them wisely and it comes off pretty well. For example, when Jacob and Hannah finally hook-up, the moment between the characters is well overdue. The story takes its time with both characters and in a few short minutes really creates a very strong bond between the young lovers. It’s one of the more touching scenes in the film, as is the scene where Cal and Emily are talking on the phone about a pilot light. As for the comedy, you’ll find plenty here, especially the ‘reinventing Cal’ montage; that’s really good stuff.
At the end of the day, Crazy, Stupid, Love. is a different film, though not incredibly believable. It has some great moments with Gosling and Carell, and some very touching moments between husband and wife. If you can forgive its flaws then you might find some strong material here that you can enjoy on a Saturday night.
As for the Blu-ray, the movie has a very clean and crisp look and feel to it. For example, one of many scenes with Cal sitting at the bar shows some very vivid colors from the drinks. The yellows are pretty dominant, as well as the blues. You can thank a lot of this look to great lighting from the crew, as the lighting really brings out some of the colors in the film. The bar was probably the best visual example of how good the transfer was to Blu-ray. Warner Home Video consistently does a great job with their HD transfers and Crazy, Stupid, Love. is no different.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
· Steve and Ryan Walk Into A Bar – Sitting at the bar, Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling candidly discuss their rolls, the movie, love and staring at your co-star’s package
· The Player Meets His Match – Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone share how they had to maneuver between hilarious love scenes, dating on screen and a budding new bromance with Steve Carell.
· Deleted Scenes
· UltraViolet Digital Copy and DVD version of the movie
These features are pretty strong. The two main featurettes are darn good, as are the deleted scenes. I would love to have heard some commentary on this disc, but regretfully there was none. Still, pretty good stuff with this.
Buy It 11.1.11 on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack with UltraViolet Digital Copy or Download to Own – http://bit.ly/qTqrZE
