Crazy Stupid Love

My review of Crazy Stupid Love is online at WEVancouver.com

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE

Starring Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
Directed by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Most romantic comedies skip over real human moments, favouring a glossy panache of formulaic plots, stereotypes in place of characters and ridiculous cliches. But now there’s Crazy, Stupid, Love, a film so full of spark, heart and bittersweet moments, it practically hugs your insides.

Cal (Steve Carell) is a chinos-and-running-shoes kind of guy facing single life after finding out his wife of 25 years, Emily (Julianne Moore), cheated on him with David, her coworker (Kevin Bacon). Cal takes up residency at a bar where Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a flashy ladies’ man, takes him under his wing. But, after successfully transforming Cal, Jacob falls for Hannah (Emma Stone) and the professor becomes the student. Sort of. Rounding out this mix is Cal and Emily’s 13-year-old son, the wise-beyond-his-years Robbie (Jonah Bobo), madly in love with his 17-year-old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), who happens to be in love with Cal.

Love has its share of “only in the movies!’ misunderstandings, but Dan Fogelman’s witty, emotionally intelligent script provides a great foundation for what is easily the best ensemble cast in recent memory. Bobo is the heart and soul of the film and Tipton, surprisingly natural, is hands down the best thing to have ever come out of America’s Next Top Model (she placed third in the 2008 cycle). Carell continues to demonstrate his understanding of the nimble line between drama and comedy, and Gosling somehow makes sleazy seem charming before skillfully transitioning to vulnerable. The two share a phenomenal rapport, with each other as well as with Stone and Moore.

It helps that no character — even the philanderers — are relegated to “villain” status. The foils are normal, everyday flaws — circumstance, confidence, time — which makes a lovely change from more traditional Hollywood fare. A romantic comedy that’s warm, funny and raw? To borrow a line from the film itself, Crazy, Stupid, Love is a game changer. —Andrea Warner

Blue Valentine

My review of the exquisite Blue Valentine is in this week's WE.

Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling play a tortured couple in Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine.

Credit: Supplied

BLUE VALENTINE

Starring Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams
Directed by Derek Cianfrance

Despite having received a controversial NC-17 rating in the U.S. (subsequently withdrawn) for an oral-sex scene, the warning Blue Valentine should come with relates more to its graphic emotional content. What you see will stay with you for a long, long time to come.

The second feature from director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance, Blue Valentine’s story unfolds in non-linear fashion, jumping backwards and forwards in time between the warm highs and devastating lows punctuating Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy’s (Michelle Williams) five-year relationship.

Part lout and part sweetheart, Dean’s an aggressive charmer whose mother abandoned him at a young age. Cindy’s a broken girl from an abusive home who needs someone to take care of her. He carries a ukulele around with him. She tap dances. They’re equally nuanced creations, and their hipster romance reflects a 20- to 30-something demographic under-represented in mainstream fare.

In fleshing out the lovers, Gosling and Williams deliver the performances of their young careers. Gosling uses his immeasurable skill to tap into Dean’s softer side, even when the character’s an insufferable dick. Williams’s quiet, determined presence suits Cindy’s inability to articulate her frustrations. Instead, the actress communicates Cindy’s feelings through wonderfully subtle body language. The pair have pressure-cooker chemistry, making every interaction between Dean and Cindy volatile, be it happy or otherwise.

At the centre of the heartbreak, Cianfrance skillfully exposes the folly of love at first sight: It doesn’t permit for change and growth. The couple can’t evolve since their bond is predicated on a moment in time that can never be recaptured. Dean and Cindy’s relationship is built on an unstable foundation such that its collapse is a foregone conclusion. To Cianfrance’s and the actors’ credit, watching those pieces come together and then implode is nothing less than riveting. —Andrea Warner