Thursday, August 25, 2011

Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. is rarely crazy, occasionally stupid and, well, all about love. It starts with the revelation of an affair by Cal's (Steve Carrell) wife Emily (Julianne Moore). Cal jumps ship and ends up biding his time in a local bar, where he is ultimately taken under the wing of the establishment's lothario Jacob (Ryan Gosling). Jacob is the classic ladies man, well-dressed, wealthy, smooth and largely devoid of real depth. He changes Cal's look, gives him insight into his craft and actually helps the buffoon to a short stint as a Don Juan himself, including a hook-up with one of their children's teacher (Marisa Tomei). From here, things do go a little crazy as Jacob falls in love with Hannah (Emma Stone), who was originally unimpressed with his charms but goes for him to get back at a nondescript boyfriend who doesn't propose when she expects him to, the babysitter Jessica falls in love with Cal while Cal's son Robbie is in love with her, we find out Hannah is Cal's older daughter and Cal and Emily are considering reconciliation. The rom-com ends more or less as one would expect, but there are plenty of funny and touching moments along the way. The interesting thing is how it challenges a recent trend in Hollywood to play with the opposite end of the romance spectrum -- the friends with benefits relationship. Here marriage and commitment are the trope; returning us to Hollywood's love affair with monogamy and the normative family structure. Sure both spouses end up in bed with others, but they come back together in the end and, we assume, live happily ever after. Cal and Hannah also end up in love and the classic "tamed lothario" theme relived yet again and even Robbie is given some hope of future nookie with his love interest Jessica. Could it be that Hollywood is trying to revive that institution that has fallen out of favor with the young disaffected crowd? Or is it just that most of the FWB films have floundered at the box office? In any case, the movie is probably worth a viewing if you like the genre and can look past the predictable arc of the narrative. Of course, if you like the genre, you probably like the predictable arc ...

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