I'm breaking up with it because I think I can do better.

Rating: Null/10 (23 August 2011)

I've been looking forward to Crazy, Stupid, Love for a couple of months now. While the TV Spots haven't been very good, the extended trailers seemed to promise a real visceral and gut busting romantic comedy that was full of heart and laughs. I've been yearning for a nice drama I could rally behind in the midst of the Summer Movie Experience but unfortunately that's not quite what I got here.
Steve Carell plays Cal, the sort of hub which all the other players revolve around. There's Julianne Moore who's divorcing him, Ryan Gosling who mentors him, Kevin Bacon who replaces him, Jonah Bobo who's his son and looks up to him (but is obviously not important enough to be included on the poster in spite of being about 1/3 of the movie's focus) and then there is Emma Stone who plays a role along side Ryan's character and more, but that'll be kept secret for spoiler concerns.
It's a stacked cast, to be sure. It's too bad that most of them aren't very funny. Carell tries his improvisational routine which often really only means he keeps repeating the same phrase over and over using different weird voices. It's clearly one of the only comedy tools he knows and was best used during the superior film 40 Year Old Virgin. The fact he's pared with Ryan Gosling makes little since, but what's even more shocking is just how much funnier Gosling ends up being in comparison. Even Emma Stone seems to miss her funny mark in this near disaster which eventually pulls out madcap hijinks when the whole time it's been more of a mental comedy. And then when it comes to the sincere moments none of the actors except for Julianne More really pull it off. I guess they all just wanted to do what they're known for and not really that well.
The whole thing is overloaded. There is bloated and disjointed plot everywhere. Too many characters who have too much that needs to be done so they can wrap it all up in a neat bow a number of times in the overextended denouncement. Kevin Bacon is a good example of this. There is no real good reason he's in this picture. His character could have been just referenced and left off camera since he adds nothing to the show. Simiarily, Marisa Tomei's crazed school teacher role seems like it belongs in another movie entirely. She provides such a jarring clash of misfit comedy that doesn't work here. And after those parts are cut, a general overall snippy snip snip would have helped tighten things up as well.
So really what we have here is a romantic comedy that is not nearly as romantic or funny enough. It's too long. It's too populated. And doesn't seem to know just how crazy or stupid or lovely it wants to be. To be honest, other than some nice scenes here and there (Ryan giving Steve a manly make over was in the trailer) the only real satisfying storyline is that of Hal's son and his crush on his babysitter. But even that gets a kind of disturbing conclusion.