Movie Spotlight

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Now I know HP7pt2 came out this summer, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but barring some miracle Crazy, Stupid, Love has been my favorite movie of the summer. It isn’t a classic and I’ll probably forget about it in a couple of months, but for a summer filled with ho-hum movies, Crazy, Stupid, Love, entertained me from beginning to end.

There have been a lack of good romantic comedies in the last few years, I could probably name the ones I’ve liked on one hand, but Crazy, Stupid, Love is definitely up there. It isn’t your typical rom-com either. It does it sort of sneakily. The movie centers around Cal, played by Steve Carrell. Cal has just been told by his wife Emily, played by the lovely Julianne Moore, that she wants a divorce. Cal, a loving father and family man, is shocked and can barley move, but not wanting to hear the reason for the divorce (she cheated on him), he agrees to sign the papers. So he moves out, still at a loss. He wanders around, spending a lot of time at a bar where he gets drunk and rambles to himself about all of his problems. His thirteen year old son Robbie, a self-proclaimed romantic, tries to guide his father through it, but the change comes from a stranger, a man in the bar, but not just any man, the man.

Jacob, played by Ryan Gosling, is, well…a player. One look at a girl and game over. He is the epitome of a GQ Magazine cover, but he has a heart. When he sees Cal rambling at the bar, he takes pity on him and decides to turn him into a project. He gives him fashion advice and takes him under his wing as he talks to the beautiful women in the bar. Cal sits and studies, and learns quickly. Soon he unconventionally bags a fox of his own, played by Marisa Tomei. This goes on for a while as Cal slowly turns into Jacob and Jacob, a man who has never settled down, turns into Cal as he falls for a Hannah, played by Emma Stone. She is an up and coming lawyer who at first turns Jacob down, but when things don’t go according to plan, she finds herself in his arms.

But it can’t last, Cal still misses his wife and his wife…still misses him. He decides, with some advice from Robbie, that he can’t give up, so he goes after her. The last 20 minutes of the film are gold, and although there are some cliche moments it wraps up in a very refreshing way. I adored Crazy, Stupid, Love, the actors are wonderful, the comedy is just right and the romance is heartwarming, it is the perfect summer movie.