Crazy, Stupid, Love

I think the actors did a good job and it was a pretty good movie.

Arrived in new package, never opened and great disc quality, also arrived quicker than expected

Love this movie.

As some here have noted, this is almost a great movie. But it's marred by far too much in the way of crude or simply stupid dialog or events. The good: most of the interaction between the adults. Cal (Steve Carell) has had only one girlfriend ever (now his wife), whom he met early in high school. When his marriage hits the skids, Cal has no idea what to do; so he basically hangs out at a bar to drink and complain about his life. Enter Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a successful bar-scene "player" who tells Cal that he wants to help him "reclaim his manhood". Most of the interaction between Cal and Jacob, as well as their interaction with other adults, is very well done, and if the movie centered exclusively on this it would be worthy of a 5 star rating. Now there are some parts of the movie where Jacob takes the "manhood" thing too far; this straddles the line between humor and poor taste but it doesn't badly harm the movie. For the most part, the principal actors (Carell, Gosling, Moore, Stone) do an outstanding job; I mainly was interested in this because I enjoy Steve Carell's comic acting, but I must say that Ryan Gosling gives the standout performance here. The one disappointment among the adults are some of the scenes with Marisa Tomei. Not her fault, she's great, and still looks fantastic (she's in her late 40's). But a lot of the lines she's given to say, too vulgar and juvenile for what many would view as a romantic comedy. It's a shame that her talents are somewhat wasted here. Kevin Bacon does a decent job, but it's a very small role.Unfortunately, the film tries to cover more bases than adult bar/dating-scene interaction, and a subplot involving Cal's son and babysitter is almost entirely creepy, vulgar, unrealistic, and is not what I would consider to be humorous. So when the action moves away from the adults to the teenagers, this becomes a far lesser movie than it could have been. Which is too bad, because the young actors playing those roles seem very talented, they just have bad material to work with. There's one scene that Cal's son has with his mother's "boyfriend" (Kevin Bacon) that was well done, and a little of his dialog with Cal is fine too. But other than that, pretty much every time the son does anything it's a cringe-inducing, vulgar embarrassment. And not at all realistic; the son is supposed to be one of the smartest in his class, yet he's got a creepy, stalkerish obsession with his babysitter, and he freely and proudly states and/or implies all sorts of vulgarities to various authority figures, who do very little to discipline him. It doesn't help that Cal's son is short and young-looking even for 13, and the object of his affection is quite a tall (17 year old) girl; this only heightens the creepiness quotient, as it looks more like a young boy relentlessly pursuing an adult woman than one teen being interested in another. And as the movie continues, the babysitter even seems to be caught up in some unrealistic, misguided actions herself (mainly involving nude photos, which are not actually seen by the viewer). So if you have kids, better make sure they either don't watch the movie or else explain to them that these actions are not only unacceptable, but could make them a major embarrassment to their family and community, and in any event would not succeed as intended.The movie also breaks down toward the end, as perhaps the writer decided to throw in several silly, semi-slapstick, stock plot devices - in order to make this fit the Hollywood "comedy forumula". [MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD]. Toward the end we have, in rapid succession: several misunderstandings, a big chase related to the misunderstandings, a bunch of people wanting to do violence to each other (because of the misunderstandings), punches being thrown around, the police arriving on the scene, etc. Somehow, someone in Hollywood got the idea that violence is funny; it never is, nor should it be. Then there's the Hollywood cliche' of things going terribly wrong, only to be redeemed by a "great speech" that makes everyone stand up and cheer. Yet it's not a great speech here, not a great message or a great ending. The speech and ending does not ring true to me (yes I realize it's a movie, but still, there has to be some believability), and only compounds the unrealistic vision of "romance" held by Cal's son.So why four stars? This is a movie with generous 5 star portions marred by seriously bad/disturbing 1 star elements. Average those out, and it's a solid 3 star movie. However, because the good parts here are so strong, I'll assume that the viewer can do their best to ignore the bad parts. The good parts are definitely worth seeing, so I'm adding a star to the average - to make it 4 stars. Definitely see this if the main plot interests you, and try to delete the bad parts from your brain as you watch.

David Lindhagen

This movie is amazing and I wish it was on prime.

This film hit the ground running...seriously, we were immersed in its main plot within about twenty seconds. I'm just fine with that. It gave us more time to enjoy that, and it was time mostly well spent. The cast was all great and properly chosen for their respective roles, something that doesn't always happen. Though I am wondering a few things...does Steve Carell play the middle-aged man whose life is falling apart a bit too convincingly? Is it weird that Ryan Gosling has just as much chemistry with Steve Carell as he does with Emma Stone? Seriously, they're all at their best when at least two out of three of them share a scene. Julianne Moore was great as a woman who was unsure about what she wanted out of life, though I sometimes felt she didn't have enough to do in this film and was just there because the role was needed for the plot. Same goes for Kevin Bacon, who played the new man in her life. The opposite goes for Marisa Tomei, playing a school teacher who meets up with Steve Carell's character after his wife leaves him. She was lively, energetic, and had plenty to do...she just didn't have enough scenes to do it in. Meanwhile, The interactions between Jonah Bobo and Analeigh Tipton were amusing, though I wonder if any thirteen-year-old boy would be that honest, even to the girl he's majorly crushing on. Nevertheless, I really liked the ending to their subplot...I'm sure the look on the kid's face was priceless. Okay, now as to why, despite my praise for this film, I only gave it four stars. Well, there are two glaring problems that Hollywood just needs to be made aware of so they can learn from their mistakes. Number one...while I stand behind my earlier very positive opinion of the entire cast, some of the ways they all come together seem a bit too contrived. I don't want to give anything away but a suspension of disbelief is required at multiple points in the plot. Despite that criticism, I did find the multi-confrontational get-together in the backyard very amusing and Ryan Gosling had the best confrontation of them all when he defended Steve Carell. My second problem is the kid's graduation speech at the end...my problem is so glaring that I want those forty or so seconds of my life back! It was corny, weird, awkward (that's saying something for this kid), and I just didn't like it or the audience's ultimate reaction. Also, a huge suspension of disbelief would be required as the school would have surely screened for something like that, especially since it's the 8th grade and considering everything that's already happened with this kid. From the way he recited the speech, he'd obviously written something down and rehearsed it, so where were the teachers on that one. His father's part wasn't needed and the audience shouldn't have reacted the way they did. It should have been done much differently and I still want those forty or so seconds of my life back! Everything that happened after the speech was just fine. But despite those problems, it's still a film worth watching...just go get yourself a candy bar during those forty or so seconds and suspend your disbelief for everything else. Enjoy.

This is the sort of film where you think you know what's going on but it has some excellent twists that change the plot direction.SPOILER ALERT:Steve Carell plays Cal Weaver a steady if somewhat boring and insensitive family man who is told by his wife Emily (played by Julianna Moore) that she wants a divorce and that she has slept with a co-worker David (played by Kevin Bacon)Cal leaves the house and tries unsuccessfully to move on. Jacob (played by Ryan Gosling) observes Cal's failure at attempted pick-ups and decides to take him under his wing. Que awkward situations and coincidences. As a subplot Jacob who is a pick-up artist starts to fall for Hannah (played by Emma Stone)In general I'm not into Romance type films but the Comedic timing and complications and twists were well crafted and I found this hugely entertaining.

I bought this film just for kevin bacon in it and was amused and found it funny from the boy fancying his babysitter whom which has a crush on his dad who was going through a divorce to find his older daughter was dating the guy who shows him how to pick up women.

"Crazy, Stupid, Love" is a funny comedy about a man, Cal (Steve Carell), who finds himself back in the dating jungle after many years of marriage as his wife (Julianne Moore) demands divorce. As he clearly lacks of practice, he gets help from the womanizer Jacob (Ryan Gosling) how to be successful with women. Of course, you can also expect the usual complications along the road, like when the first attempt of a reunion between Cal and his wife failes, or when Jacob starts dating on of Cal's daughters.The movie does not make you laugh so that you would fall out of your chair, but you will definitlely smile from time to time. Overall, very enjoyable 2 hours. The bonus material like outtakes and deleted scenes are also quite good.

Fabulous film showing Carrell at his best. Comedy but not silly. A modern telling of a "Parenthood" (early eighties movie) type story showcasing the wondrous Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Well written, with depth and a lot of heart and humour, this is a romantic comedy that everyone will enjoy - I wouldn't call it a chick-flick. Warning: there is a scene where involuntary exultations of an impressed, aroused, jealous nature may be expressed, which will be followed by potential embarrassment and giggles. This is normal. Emma Stone reacts the same way on screen.

I enjoyed this film and it helps that I'm a big fan of Ryan Gosling. He's great in this and he does comedy very well ably assisted by the very funny Steve Carell who I'm also a fan of. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have been in a few films together and have great chemistry in this film. A lighthearted romantic comedy which brings a smile to my face.I purchased this copy as I loaned my previous copy to a family member and never got it back! My teenage daughter saw a clip of this film and wanted to watch it, so it was cheaper to buy a used copy from Amazon than it was to buy it in the shops.