A sweet, charming film with a career-best performance from Ryan Gosling.

A-

I agree that Gosling is at his best so far here, but I think there's something sorta fkd up about this movie. I found myself very uncomfortable and didn't like how funny it's supposed to be. It's very well acted and blah blah, and it's "classically" pretty fantastic. But like, man, it definitely rubbed me the wrong way.

ryan gosling is amazing!

Harold and Maude set in the Fargo universe without the killer Cat Stevens soundtrack...

GREAT.

a surprisingly heartfelt and funny movie led by a strong ensemble and an even better Ryan Gosling, this was a very nice little surprise of a movie. Too bad it's doing terribly at the box office, because it's so much more deserving of people's receipts than crap like Good Luck Chuck. Gosling continues to show us his fantastic acting range, and I think it's only time before he wins an Oscar...he's probably the most talented under-30 actor in Hollywood.

B+

Just saw this last night.

I liked it a lot, but it definitely has some issues that prevent it from being a truly great movie. The very essence of the movie is a struggle. It is easy and light, with a very naive world view. In many ways, this is the movies charm, and what makes it good in the first place. But it also becomes a determinant at certain points, as our willingness to go along with what is happening becomes less and less flexible.

The core of the movie, and the majority of its success, comes from the actors. The top three leads (Gosling, Mortimer, Schneider) are all absolutely magnificent. In many ways, Gosling is too good for the movie, as he brings a level of nuanced depth to the role that almost begins to hurt it. He actually clashes with the scripts overly-simplistic handling of mental disorders. There are moments when Lars' very real, very deep pain (and even rage) come to the surface, and these moments feel awkward when paired next to the "awe shucks" demeanor of the rest of the movie.

I haven't been too familiar with Emily Mortimer's work, but she is just perfect here. I don't think I've seen a more adorable performance in a movie in a long, long time. She actually kind of embodies the world the movie exists it, and she is magnificent.

Paul Schneider is fantastic as usual. With this and his great work earlier this year in Jesse James, he is definitely on the verge of breaking out in a big way, and this can only be a good thing. He has been deserving of it since his stuff with David Gordon Green.

So yes, this is definitely an actors movie.

I know I spent the first half of this post kind of beating up on the movie, but I really did like it. It's heartwarming and funny (and even deeply sad at parts), and it features a handful of truly transcendent moments (the party and the bowling alley come to mind) that elevate the film, if only for a brief time, to a pretty extraordinary height. Asking the film to be less naive or to take the central mental disorder more seriously is ultimately asking the movie to be something it's not, and that isn't fair. Still, it is a hard issue to ignore.

Loved it. I wasn't a big fan of the entire town being on board with the "charade", but the actors and the overall tone of the film made it easy to ignore. I didn't get a chance to see Gosling in Half Nelson, but if you want to see a clinic on acting look no further than his performance here.

A

I'm surprised at the discontent with the whole town supporting Lars - - I took the film to be a modern day fairy tale, as opposed to some kind of literal docudrama, and found that the town's unity of purpose suited the movie's overall spirit...

I bought it for the very most part. My only tiny problem with the film, is that not one person (aside from his brother) flat out called him on it. The party scene was the closest anyone ever came, and I liked that scene, but it just ended with Lars feeling extremely uncomfortable.

It reminds me of the guys with one eye aimed in a wonky direction (or any visible disability) - - everyone usually tries to be polite and not draw attention to it - - as opposed to "calling them on it" - - Lars disability of a mental illness just didn't happen to be visible except when he was with Bianca...

"Calling him on it" might have been a bad choice of words. I'm just surprised that they didn't have a scene in the movie where one random person who knew nothing of the situation, didn't come up to him and ask why he was carrying around a doll with him. Maybe there was a scene and just through off the tone of the movie? They might have thought the audience had already felt for Lars enough that they didn't need to bring the tone down even further.

I don't know if I have seen a better movie this year. The last time I was touched by a movie like this was with Brokeback Mountain. A all the way.

It actually reminded me a lot of As Good As It Gets, which I recently saw for the first time. As makeshift pointed out the actors really make the film, which I think works wonderfully as an eccentric yet heartwarming date movie, but as an actual film is a bit questionable at times. The more one can put aside the "critic" view and just go with it the more they'll like it.

I posted this over at AwardsDaily, but I figured I'd post it over here too. I normally don't go past a paragraph, and this isn't exactly a deep take on the film, but I loved the movie enough to share my thoughts here:

I really wanted to see this movie. When it's hitting DVD?

I hope Ryan Gosling gets recognized for this film and gets an Oscar nod. He was excellent.

I second that and add that Emily Mortimer, in an ideal world, would be up for Best Supporting Actress.

A-


This was a complete surprise to me and what a great one too! I never quite knew what to make of this film's very odd premise and how on earth they could pull this off. But they did...

The cast of this film can't be praised enough. At the risk of sounding repetitive: Ryan Gosling is fantastic here and it just doesn't get into my head how on earth they nominated Johnny Depp for one of his lesser performances, instead of Gosling who truly delivers the goods here and shows that he's one of the very best in his generation?! His performance is very nuanced, bears a lot of depth, vulnerability. It's incredible with how much restraint he played it. Pure magic. I mean the fact that you actually can "feel" the affection he has for Bianca says a whole lot of his acting abilities here. Emily Mortimer is just as equally deserving of accolades as Gosling is, though. She's charming, wonderful and her final confrontation scene with Gosling's Lars stands out as one of the movie's best scenes (and certainly the highlight of her acting job in here). But it'd be unfair to just focus on the terrific performances of these two actors here because it's the entire cast ensemble that makes the things work here. Patricia Clarkson is great as the therapeut, Paul Schneider does a great job as Lars' (seemingly) insensitive brother. Kelli Garner is a perfect match to Lars' insecurity and child-like strangeness. Both had some amazing chemistry that you rarely see in films nowadays. Also all the rest of the supporting cast, right down to the smallest roles is great. If it was up to me, this would have been nominated for the SAG Ensemble award.

The screenplay deserves just as many accolades, though. While I have yet to see The Savages, Lars and the Real Girl is certainly the best original screenplay of the four Oscar nominees I have seen in this category thus far (Juno, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille). It's not an easy feat to write something like this and make it not come across as extremely awkward and uncomfortable. In fact, I thought it walked the fine line between funny, humorous scenes and the emotional, earnest scenes very well.

I think the movie's main and impossible to overlook flaw has been mentioned in this thread a couple of times. The movie just stretches the believability a wee bit too much pretty often. Are we supposed to think that every single man, woman and child in this town plays along in this game. Now one ever attacks Lars or calls him out? Even not the ambulance or the doctors in the hospital? For a movie with many characters feeling so real, that aspect just was way to unrealistic to overlook. But this gripe aside, Craig Gillespie and Nancy Oliver crafted a very charming, enchanting and emotional movie that overcomes the obstacles of its weird premise and delivers in a way that many quriky comedies can dream of nowadays.

This picture has absolutely wonderful acting (particularly from Ryan Gosling and Emily Mortimer) but I ultimately found it a bit too slight for its own good. I sympathized with Lars because of Gosling's performance, not because of the script, really. C+

I actually saw this last night... I loved it. Great cast, it surprisingly worked for me.

I liked it a lot, mainly because of the great performances by Gosling, Mortimer and Schneider. But there was something about it that detached me from the story, maybe it was the cold screenplay or the minimalistic direction. Either way, I wasn't able to feel as connected to Lars as much as I would've wanted to. I think at times it didn't know if it wanted to be a light comedy or a very serious drama about a guy with heavy psychological issues. That was part of the charm in a way too, though.

7/10 (B)

Wow, I'm surprised, I thought you'd love this.

8/10 -> B

Great performances from everyone, especially Gosling. It's a pity he didn't get an Oscar nom, because this was the best 2007 role after TWBB Day-Lewis one.

The whole movie isn't really funny at all, but it's quite charming and very emotional. The movie kept me on a distance throughout, I can't put my finger onto why that was, but I feel like that prevented it from being a truly great movie.

I thought it's pretty funny. It's also sweet and heartwarming. On the paper, one would have been sure this is gonna turn out to be some melodrama, emotional over the top. But fortunately, it didn't. The performance is superb too. Loved it, loved it!

A (#9 best of 2007)