CRAZY STUPID LOVE

“CRAZY STUPID LOVE” (Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone)

After seeing this film, I wondered how they decided to call it ‘Crazy Stupid Love’ when a more apropos title would have been, “Wow, What A Coincidence, Huh?”
I’m not saying I didn’t like it – it is a very likable film; likable characters hitting snags & doing their best to forge ahead with life and making the best of their depressing situations – but it does play they ‘Aha, bet you never saw THAT twist coming, didja?’ card 3 or 4 times too often. It distracts from the overall enjoyment of a nicely acted film that blends just the right amount of humor and touching dramatic moments.
The film opens with Cal (Carell) & Emily (Moore) having dinner in a restaurant. Both look bored out of their minds as they contemplate whether or not to have dessert. Finally Cal says, “Okay, on the count of three we both say out loud what we want; 1, 2, 3.” Emily says “I want a divorce.” as Cal slowly mutters, “Creme Brule.”
On the ride home, Emily admits to having an affair with co-worker David Lingnaught (Kevin Bacon) As she goes into detail of what lead to their tryst, Cal says, “If you don’t stop talking, I’m getting out of the car.” She doesn’t, so he does.
We are then informed that their 13 year old son has a huge crush on his 17 year old babysitter... Now, there’s nothing unbelievable about the crush, but who thinks a 13 year old needs a babysitter? He’s just lovesick, not mentally challenged... Well, maybe those two have more in common than I originally thought...
Then we find out that the babysitter is in love with Cal, thus driving a wedge between father & son that dad has no control over.
So Cal moves out & finds his own place. He starts frequenting bars to meet women and winds up just driving them away by whining to everyone within earshot how David Lingnaught screwed his wife and how HE got kicked out because of her indiscretion.
A young gigolo in the making named Jacob (Gosling) hears Cal’s diatribes once too often and decides to help the guy out. It’s actually the relationship that develops between the young charmer and the older inexperienced (with women) heartbroken sap that makes this a film worth seeing.
Now the first, ‘Wow, What A Coincidence, Huh?’ works – when a woman that Cal ‘conquers’ by following Jacob’s rules shows up later in the film. But then it happens again and again and again until you just want to say ‘enough already!’
Emma Stone, an upcoming actress with loads of promise, enters the story as Hannah, a no-nonsense law school student that catches Jacob’s usually wandering eye and ignores all of his attempts to charm her into his boudoir. As I said, I like Emma, but she’s not gorgeous by any stretch of the imagination – she’s pretty, but not a striking beauty. So it doesn’t make sense that shallow, looks-infatuated Jacob should desire someone that doesn’t stand out in the crowd. I’m sure the writers felt that the audience would go for the old ‘he wants her because she shot him down’ routine, but that didn’t make sense here. Other than he saw her & just knew she was ‘the one’ that was going to change his life (the ol' beauty in the eye of the beholder gag) the pairing of Jacob & Hannah took a while for me to accept, but I eventually did.
So goes ‘Crazy Stupid Love’, silly one minute, serious the next; unrequited puppy lovers and mature ex-lovers learning to cope with a failing marriage and lots and lots of unexpected ‘wow, what a coincidence, huh?/never saw that coming, didja?’ moments.
Those moments are a distraction, but actually by the end of the film they didn’t seem to bother me in the long run – In other words, the ending doesn’t suck...