Ever Lasting Love

Rating: 8/10 (27 September 2012)

The comedy-drama genre, or "dramedy" is a tough nut to crack and a problem can be that films lean too far into drama and the comedy on offer is usually very light. Crazy, Stupid, Love fortunately breaks that model and is actually funny, as well as dramatic.
Cal and Emily Weaver (Steve Carell and Julianne Moore) are a married couple who have two young children and Emily ask Cal for a divorce after she admits she had slept with co-worker. Cal is heartbroken, loses his friends and spends his time at a bar bemoaning his situation. A successful bachelor and womaniser, Jacob (Ryan Gosling), takes pity on Cal and tutors in the ways of picking up, gives him a makeover and a new wardrobe and after some mishaps becomes plenty successful himself. But he still longs for Emily and there still seems to be a spark between the two.
Despite Jacob's success with the ladies there is one woman who knocks him back, a very attractive law graduate, Hannah (Emma Stone), and this is the woman who he actually has a connection with whilst Hannah actually longs for being more exciting.
Cal's son, Robbie (Jonah Bono), is a 13-year-old boy who is infatuated with his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), embarrassing and hounding her. But Jessica is a bit of strange girl and actually fancies Cal himself.
Much of the comedy is based on awkward situations, mostly at Cal's expense, a little like The 40 Year Virgin. The situation and humour portray is in a slightly exaggerated world, but for the most it works and we can believe most of the situations, except maybe why would a 17-year-old fancy a man like Steve Carell. He does not strike me as a person who teenagers would fall for.
There is a great cast in the film and they are excellent throughout. Carell and Gosling were the best of them all. Carell is a natural comedian, making his character believable despite what's happening around him and is a natural delivery of his lines. He is also great at the more dramatic elements and I would like to see him in more dramatic roles. Gosling has shown he is a very talented actor and can tackle almost any genre and he shows he has excellent comic timing. What is even more remarkable it would be really easy to dislike Jacob as a character, but Gosling and the writers were able to making him into a more interesting, likable character simply because he because he formed friendship with Cal.
Moore plays the most grounded, serious character and she does a good job with what she has to do and she is always a pleasant screen presence. Stone is a strong, fun loving character, with plenty of spunk and when she was with her friend a great person to be around, but the she did get the shaft with screen time and her story was lacking development. Tipton shows she is an actress with potential and she really felt like a naïve, young 17-year-old, both physical because of her small frame and braid and also the way she act and properly why she has a daddy complex, because it is safe.
There are a few visual treats in the film to keep film fresh. The best example is a montage where the camera pans around a bar as we see Cal become a ladies man and see him pick up a number of women in an excellent 30 seconds.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is a very good but there a few faults. There are funny scenes and characters, but Marisa Tomei's role as a teacher who Cal sleeps with was someone who simply mugged and overdone when the character and the comedy should have been more grounded and awkward then overblown. It is even more annoying because Tomei is a very talented actress. Also because of the large cast of characters some of the character really did drop off the screen at times. This was the case of Hannah who is physically not in the film for large portions of film: but Stone is a strong performance and has excellent chemistry with Gosling and her friend played by Liza Lapira.
A more minor criticism is the role of Cal and Emily's daughter, Molly, played by Joey King who seems market the uncharacterised child role. I can understand why she was included because it would have been weird for a 17-year-old girl to only babysit a 13-year-old boy, but Molly could have had a few more scenes.
Crazy, Stupid, Love film is an enjoyable film that is funny for the most part and does build on its dramatic elements and character development. Crazy, Stupid, Love has sometimes been classified as a romantic-comedy, if that is the case it is a great example of a film that avoids clichés and is a film that people who do not like the genre can enjoy. It makes an big constant to Gosling's other romantic film, Blue Valentine.