Lars and the Real Girl
Ryan Gosling, Bianca Doll
Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Sony Home Entertainment 2008
107 minutes
Lars and the Real Girl is a great, original comedy. The premise is wild but this movie about a single guy dating an anatomically correct doll is charming, touching, and extremely funny if you respond to intelligent, subtle, absurd situation comedy.
What could so easily have been a disastrous Hollywood over the top no intelligent joke movie is a gem like nothing you have never seen before or will ever see again.
Lars (Ryan Gosling in an absolutely superb performance) is your basic shy, reserved, single guy who lives in a small town. He has a good job, a brother and sister-in-law who care for him (Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider), is a regular church goer, and is dating a mail-order life-size doll (Bianca Doll). Bianca is staying with Gus’ brother and sister-in-law since she and Lars are not married yet.
Gus’ brother finds it generally hard to take but after the local doctor / psychologist says this is just Gus’ way of working out some issues the small town community somewhere in Alaska and the congregation decide Gus is one of theirs and everybody is entitled to his little quirks.
Everybody pretty much plays along and this creates some very comic moments of a kind never seen on a screen before even if this is a boy meets girl kind of movie.
The story develops in some very interesting ways there is no way you can have predicted.
All the actors involved in this movie give nuanced performances that brings out the best of the story and the situations.
There is no doubt there is some kind of message in Lars and the Real Girl about accepting those who are different from us but who really thinks about the message when the comedy is that entertaining.
Nancy Oliver (Six Feet Under) has written a tight, funny, oddball script that was rightfully nominated for an Academy Award. You also have to give credit to director Craig Gillespie for understanding right off the bat that comedy does not have to be in your face over the top to be very funny, entertaining, and touching
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