Crazy, Stupid, Love

The first half of Crazy, Stupid, Love had the potential to become the first real grown-up romantic comedy that I’ve seen in years. All my hopes were dashed during its second half when it loses all of its initial appeal.

Cal (Steve Carell) finds out that his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), wants a divorce, on the way back from a night out together. If that wasn’t bad enough, Emily also confesses that she has had an affair with her co-worker, David (Kevin Bacon).

Cal leaves Emily and begins life as a single man. At the same time, Hannah (Emma Stone) contemplates what she’ll do if her longtime boyfriend, Richard (Josh Groban), proposes marriage to her.

Cal tries blending in at a trendy bar, but the only one who notices him is Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a successful ladies man, who takes Cal under his wing. Meanwhile Cal’s son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), is convinced that his babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), is his soul mate. In turn, Jessica is head over heels in love with Cal.

Each of them will face the growing challenges that love has to offer, but things get more complicated when they find out that they share a common bond that makes their lives more complicated than ever.

It’s great to see Carell play a role for the first time in years that isn’t a carbon copy of the Michael Scott character that he played on The Office. I admired particularly how Carell didn’t take a one-note approach to his role by just relying on his trademark likeability. He convincingly portrays Cal’s multi emotional states from his initial shock over Emily’s announcement to his new found sense of freedom as a single man.

Gosling’s confidence and easygoing charm make it easy to understand why Jacob is so successful with the ladies. He’s also intelligent and well-spoken which is far different from the usual sleazeball player. Stone is one of the few of the new group of young actresses that deserves the attention she gets. She incorporates her usual good humor and intelligence to Hannah, but she’s in the film far less then she should be.

Screenwriter Dan Fogelman deserves credit for bringing his multiple characters and story lines together that are logical and sensible. Director Glen Ficarra and John Requa keep the film’s pace at just the right level so nothing overlaps each other.

Fogelman’s screenplay also has its faults. Moore’s Emily comes off as neurotic and selfish. I couldn’t figure out why Cal or David was so smitten with her in the first place. The subplot involving Robbie and Jessica takes up way too much of the film’s time. Robbie comes off as a creepy stalker rather than a smitten young man. Their final scene where Jessica gives Robbie a nude picture of herself is disturbing, especially in the wake of stories about teen sexting.

A film that brings mixed results is even more frustrating than a flat-out awful movie, especially when it’s a film that has a lot of admirable aspects to it. At least, I have the pleasure of bad mouthing junk, but it’s just frustrating to know that films like Crazy could not only have been better, but one of the best films of the year.