A Pleasant Surprise

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2012)

This film surprised me, despite liking most of the actors in it I always assumed this would be another cheesy chick-flick with some gags thrown in but, it was so much better!
The script is simply great. Nearly every actor in this film performs well and it is obvious they all got along well whilst filming. The roles of Julianne Moore and Steve Carell worked well but I particularly liked scenes with Ryan Gosling and Carell talking in the bar because there are some points where you can see they are both trying to hold in laughter and I love seeing that in films. I like to know they enjoyed acting as much as I enjoyed watching this film.
Towards the end of the film it begins to get cheesy but not to the point where you start to lose interest. There are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments in this film and it can leave you in tears with some comedy sequences.
Emma Stone's role in this was probably the best. She was hilarious as usual in this with her storyline being quite bizarre. That was my main objection to this film, everyone's storyline was great or at least really funny despite being unbelievable but, the story between Carell and Moore's son and his babysitter was just ludicrous. Not even funny, at some points it was just awkward watching it - especially at the end. I of course will not give anything away but it is the main factor of this film which wasn't really needed, it did provide some laughs but it got to the point where you just didn't want to see them in the film at all.
Overall, this is a really good film. It's been a while since I saw a really good girl's film. I would recommend it to those who like comedies but particularly romantic comedies. If you don't like that genre then maybe this film isn't for you but you will still laugh at some parts.