Actual grade: 9/10
(For a full explanation of my grading system, check out this post.)
Once in a blue moon, a comedy will come out that is made by adults for adults, and doesn't rely on bathroom humor for laughs. (Not that such humor doesn't have its time and place: see the side-splittingly funny bridal shop scene from BRIDESMAIDS.) CRAZY STUPID LOVE is one of those rare gems. It takes the popular form of dramas such as CRASH and BABEL -- a sprawling story with an ensemble of characters whose relationships are slowly revealed and come together for a cathartic climax -- and applies it for laughs instead of tears. (It's also more successful at getting those laughs than either of those movies were at getting tears, but that's another story.) The talents of Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Marissa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, and relative newcomers Analeigh Tipton and Jonah Bobo are put to superb use. Given this cast and the promising trailer, I was expecting a good comedy. What I got was a great film.
In nine cases out of ten, meandering is the death of a film. It tends to kill the forward momentum and bog the film down in superfluous side plots. But this film thrives on it. It continually jumps sideways from plot line to plot line, not erratically but deliberately, focusing equal time on every character and fleshing out their tangled lives. And fortunately for the audience, their lives are pretty interesting. There's Cal (Carell), a bored middle aged man who just found out his wife Emily (Moore) is cheating on him and wants a divorce. There's Cal's son Robbie (Bobo), who has a crush on his babysitter (Tipton), who has a crush on Cal. There's Jacob (Gosling), the ladykiller who takes Cal under his well-tailored wing. And there's Hannah (Stone), a feisty young woman struggling to find herself, who lands in Jacob's laser-like scope. These are all real people, complex and layered, struggling internally to come to terms with who they are and what they want from life.
Dan Fogelman, the screenwriter (whose biggest credits to date are Cars, Bolt and Tangled), brings each character brilliantly to life. His biggest risk and greatest achievement is in making these people imperfect. They all act selfishly and hypocritically and do things it would be easy to disapprove of, yet you still love them and can tell they love each other. They are human, in other words. Steve Carell, famous for playing insecure boy-men, transcends that shtick for this performance. He's still insecure, but that insecurity is now emanating from a fully-grown man who has lost his way and is desperately searching for solid ground. Julianne Moore is emotionally torn as the woman who betrayed her husband, and doesn't know whether or not she wants him back in her life. Ryan Gosling is pitch-perfect as the womanizer who distracts himself from his own imperfections by pointing out the imperfections in others (specifically Cal). Emma Stone is a shining presence of youthful energy as she continues her streak of fantastic performances (she is going to have a terrific career). Marissa Tomei as Kate is adorably frenetic as the recovering alcoholic Cal chooses to get over his wife with. And both Tipton and Bobo match their wits with the adults around them easily in surprisingly mature performances.
There are several standout scenes here. The first that comes to mind is the first night that Jacob and Hannah spend together. It doesn't turn out how either of them expected, but it's sweet, funny, and incredibly real. Gosling and Stone achieve a chemistry that is truly delightful to watch. You can't help but smile as the beguiling Hannahs slowly breaks down Jacob's very deliberate walls. The second is the inevitable but still surprising interaction between Cal, his wife Emily, and his hookup Kate. Marissa Tomei almost had me in tears. And last but not least is perhaps the best scene in the film, towards the end, when all the storylines finally converge in one manic, explosive, hysterical scene that had me laughing the hardest I've laughed since BRIDESMAIDS. Watching all these disparate storylines and complex characters finally come together was an incredibly satisfying experience, and well worth the meandering path we'd taken to get there.
You will not laugh out loud as many times as you did during BRIDESMAIDS, and you will not get to live vicariously through badly-behaved men romping through Bangkok (if that's your thing). Both those films were full of characters who were either broad caricatures (Zach Galifianakis), or writ large for the purposes of comedy (Kristen Wiig). In CRAZY STUPID LOVE, the characters are nuanced, layered and real. There is as much sadness and melancholy in this film as there is happiness, but that's life. These characters don't always do the right thing, but they never stop trying. They're crazy, they're stupid, and they're in love -- and that's wonderful, but it's also not easy. This ensemble pulls that conflict off to charming perfection.
In short, this film is more concerned with getting to know the characters and exploring their complexities than it is with something as cliche as a "plot." This may bother some people and leave them yearning for the simplicity of cowboys shooting at aliens, but I found it refreshing and effective. With lesser actors and lesser writing, it could have easily failed. And I'm happy to report that it doesn't. With its suburban California setting and themes of people doing bad things to the people they love, this film was reminiscent of last year's THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (and both starred Julianne Moore, funnily enough). I can easily see CRAZY STUPID LOVE occupying that film's "comedy slot" in this year's Oscar race. It is funny, it is sad, but most of all, it is true. True to its characters, true to life, and true to love.
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