Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love

Plot: When Carl Weaver (Steve Carell) discovers that his wife of almost 25 years Emily (Julianne Moore) cheated on him with co-worker David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon), he moves out of his house and into a one bedroom apartment. With no outlet and no hope, Carl continues to go to a bar night after night complaining to anyone and everyone about his love life. However, it's not until ladies man Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) takes Carl under his wing and turns him into a swinging single that Carl begins to regain his manhood. But will his change in attitude prevent him from fighting for his soul mate?

Review: I didn't expect much going into Crazy, Stupid, Love and I wasn't disappointed. Crazy, Stupid, Love is just another average romantic comedy with some occasional laughs, a few strong performances, and not much substance.
Dan Fogelman's plot doesn't leave much to the imagination. A man who finds out his wife is cheating on him, turns into a swinging bachelor, and then discovers that he really just wants his wife after all. Originality thy name is Hollywood. If the plot sounds almost cartoonish you'd probably not be surprised to learn that Fogelman's two previous script credits are Cars and Tangled. Better stick to the animated features Danny boy.
Crazy, Stupid, Love suffers the fate of a lot of rom-coms because it's a situational and formulaic idea that's been tried over and over and over again. To their credit c0-directors Glenn Ficara and John Requa do a fair job of keeping a steady pace throughout the movie. Despite its almost two hour running time, Love did not drag, and Ficara and Requa struck a nice balance between comedy and drama. The best scene in the whole film might have been when Carl and Emily are talking to each other before going into their son's parent/teacher conference meeting. The tension and chemistry between Carrell and Moore is excellent and dovetails nicely into the next scene when Carl realizes that his son's teacher is actually a woman he slept with. Even though it was one of the coincidences you only see in romantic comedies it did make for a funny scene.
While Carrell is endearing as the spurned husband Carl, the whole "lovable schlub" act is getting really old. We've already seen this Carrell before in movies like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Little Miss Sunshine. The whole routine is no longer refreshing; it's just tiresome.
Thankfully, Ryan Gosling saves the hour with his portrayal of rich playboy Jacob. Gosling, one of the finest working actors today, could have turned Jacob into a womanizing jerk but he didn't. Yes Jacob is a womanizer, however he's also helping Carl with no ulterior motive and he's not derogatory towards women. The Academy Award nominated actor plays a very upfront charming Jacob and he was one of the few characters I actually responded to. The scene where Carl realizes Jacob "Miyagied" him is hilarious and heartfelt at the same time. His scenes with the proverbial "woman who changes the ladies man" character of Hannah (Emma Stone) rather than being hackneyed, come off as honest and sweet. Yes Jacob lost his father, has tons of money, and a distant mother and yes all of these things are cliche, yet somehow Gosling pulls it off. I give credit to anyone who can let their acting ability overshadow cliched storytelling.
While Crazy, Stupid, Love plods along initially as an average rom-com it descends into the realm of contrived with its ending. A "surprise" meeting in the final reel is so convenient that I should have gotten a Slurpee and some nachos to go along with the scene. All I could think of was the Monday Night Football crew on ESPN. "C'mon man!"
In the end Crazy, Stupid, Loves comes across as more stupid than anything.

My rating: 5.5