Banana Scoop

Oh the romantic comedy.  Cliched, formulaic, and sappy.  It’s a staple of film to please the needs of the susceptible hearts and provides a means to fill our heads with ideas of true love and happiness.  So how is Crazy, Stupid, Love any different?  Simple answer: it isn’t.  It runs through the cliche moments, ends up exactly how I pictured it from the beginning and it’s as sappy as a maple wood tree.  But there lies the best aspects of this film.  While the film fires on all these seemingly tired cylinders, it’s charming and likable leads, a well written script, and plenty of heart transcends this the normal ‘Rom-Com’ that not only has me huddled in my sheets and pillows, but has enough twists to keep me interested as more than the traditional romantic comedy.

Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) is confronted by his wife (Julianne Moore) that she wants a divorce.  Distraught, Cal looks to the teachings of womanizing Jamie Palmer (Ryan Gosling) in needs of rebounding from his monotonous life.  During Jamie’s reconstruction of Cal’s life, Jamie meets a girl, Hannah (Emma Stone), who seems to be a game changer and looks to Cal for some advice.  Meanwhile, the web of love continues when Cal’s son falls in love with the Weaver’s babysitter who is, ironically, also in love with Cal.  That’s where the title comes in, as each of these characters do crazy and stupid things in the name of love and the ‘comedic’ part of the romantic comedy ensues.

Why don't we say what we want at the same time. 1,2,3: 'I want a divorce' 'creme bul-'

Classic rom-com right?  If you guessed that the ending involves everyone being happy with each other, then you’re not wrong.  Let’s be honest, everyone thought that, and it can almost be a let down when you can predict how the movie will end before it’s even over.  But that’s the first thing Crazy, Stupid, Love does right, while it has all the cliche moments of a traditional romantic comedy, the journey there isn’t like anything I’ve ever experienced before.  I’m conflicted in finding the right words without letting too much details of the story get away.  Let’s keep it at: there are a number of twists that keep the movie fresh and keep it from falling into traditional romantic comedy storyline.

Another thing Crazy, Stupid, Love does right is having such a fabulous cast.  From the first moment I saw Emma Stone, I thought ‘adorable’.  Ryan Gosling’s charm is difficult to get used to after seeing him as a murderous driver in Drive, but none the less exudes ‘cool as f*ck’.  The film even got personal for me when he was doling out advice on how to pick up chicks.  [You can only imagine me in with my notebook taking notes underneath my sheets]  I already dress like the man [be above The Gap], I might as well act like him and just get as much sex sex sex as possible [He is literally portrayed as a sex God].  Enough grossness aside.  Carell’s Cal is classic Carell in Dan in Real Life, but with better jokes.  All in all, there’s plenty of chemistry between each lead whether it be between Moore and Carell, Carell and Gosling, or Gosling and Stone and and the crucial heartfelt moments are executed well in thanks to its believable characters.

Teach me, teach me, teach me.

The film itself is generally infectiously quirky, which is in thanks to it’s excellent script.  The slapstick is good and represents crazy and stupid love at its best.  The message here is how far someone will go for love, and it’s fun to see some of these likable characters do relatively dumb things in the name of love.  Regardless of quirkiness or the charm of the cast, the film does fall to formula.  Now I know not all romantic comedies can be (500) Days of Summer where all traditional barriers are broken down and we get something fresh and new, and this film tries fairly hard to break down as many barriers as possible, but doesn’t exactly get there.  As delightful as the cast is, the relatively straightforward happily-ever-after is always a disappointment once the credits start rolling.  As the credits roll in romantic comedies, I’ll usually tell myself, ‘well it all turned out for the best…good for them’, then I’ll shut off the TV and go to bed, forever forgetting the Weaver family.  There was nothing…amazing…about the story, nor did I take any new lessons from it.  The classic [and recycled] rom-com themes of  ‘be yourself’, ‘work hard for you loved ones’, ‘accept misfortunes and move on’, ‘find yourself’, etc. were all there, but Crazy, Stupid, Love doesn’t deliver anything new to the genre.

While it wasn’t mind blowing or groundbreaking, it passes my romantic comedy test.  I wouldn’t settle for anything less than this [see Kate Hudsons and Katherine Heigl’s career for examples of what doesn’t pass].  All romantic comedies NEED what Crazy, Stupid, Love has: a quirky, adorable script, an excellent cast, and a couple of twists and turns to keep us on our feet.  It’s all a matter of having these basic ideas and then coming up with something NEW.  This is my standard Hollywood, take heed.

3.5/5 Stars