XI-Cinema: Crazy Stupid Love by Raquel P
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
XI-Cinema: Crazy Stupid Love by Raquel P. I once had a graduate school professor tell me my short stories were good but I didn’t know when to end them. That was a solid critique I’d like to pass on to the makers of the new romantic comedy “Crazy Stupid Love” starring Steve Carell (“The Office”) and Julianne Moore (“The Kids Are All Right”). “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” is touted as a film about the dumb things people do for love when they’re in love: Cal Weaver (Carell, in what seems like a reprisal of his “Dan in Real Life” role) and his wife of 25 years, Emily (Moore) agree to divorce and move on to disastrous results; their 13-year-old son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo, “The Backyardigans”), throws pride out of the window for the love of his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton, “America’s Next Top Model, Cycle 11”), who just happens to be in love with Cal. What ensues is a sometimes-funny, often long-winded mish-mash of intertwined storylines and misunderstandings. What Worked. Writer Dan Fogelman (“Cars,” “Fred Claus”) put together an ambitious script. The dialogue was rather clever and the plot had all the potential to make this film a huge success. The performances by Carell and Bobo were believable and relatable. The audience could sympathize with their characters. Ryan Gosling (“The Notebook”) as Cal’s “love doctor” and Emma Stone (“Easy A”) as Gosling’s love interest also pulled off stellar performances; Gosling with that smug, attractiveness he’s known for and Stone with her uber-precise comedic timing made some of the lame moments of the film, well, less lame. Even Liza Lapira (“Dollhouse”), who played Stone’s best friend Liz stole the scenes in which she appeared. What Didn’t Work. Directing duo Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (“I Love You Phillip Morris”) and editor Lee Haxall failed Fogelman in a big way by putting too much into the film. Writers tend to be wordy. That’s where a good film editor should confer with a good film director and insist on necessary cuts for the sake of a good end product. Instead Haxall left in second after second of unnecessary monologues and awkward moments to the point that I could see some audience members, myself included, pull out their phones to check email and text messages. Then there was Moore’s tight-lipped “acting” to contend with, as well as Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei cast in roles that my neighbor from down the street could have played. While Tomei’s role was a little more plausible than Bacon’s (I wholeheartedly believe his character could have been left out of the movie and no one would have missed him) she’s played a crazed, sex-starved female already. This reviewer can’t help but want her to play someone else. Forever. In the End. “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” would be a great movie to rent on a rainy day with your girlfriends and a few bottles of wine. That way you can fast-forward through many of the awkward moments and stop the film altogether right after all of the stories converge in one raucous, fast-paced and hilarious scene. Everything after that belonged on the cutting room floor. It wasn’t horrible; I laughed and gasped and “no-he-didn’t” –ed at all the moments that called for it, but a must-see this film is not. It’s just a “kinda see it if you have nothing better to do and it happens to come on TV.” Steve, you left “The Office” for this? .