Love this non-stupid rom-com! Call me crazy but I do!

Rating: Null/10 (7 August 2011)

Call me crazy (as many have), call me stupid (see last comment in parentheses), and call me love (as many females that have called me crazy & stupid have), but I think the romantic comedy "Crazy, Stupid, Love" is one of the best romantic comedies of the last few years. Before I continue, I must confess that I am a master of crazy & stupid puns and there will be more coming your way in this review. So let me get to the cool crazy of "Crazy, Stupid, Love". Steve Carell stars as Cal, a dull husband & father who suddenly is dropped the bomb by his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) that she wants a divorce. Cal's streak of hits with his wife comes to an abrupt end and he must cope in living a new single life. There is where the slick Jacob comes in, played by Ryan Gosling. As Cal embarrasses himself profusely in a stylish singles bar by yelling out the name of the man that slept with Emily, lothario Jacob takes notice and takes it upon himself to help stop the Calsanity. So then Jacob befriends Cal and shows him the tricks of the singles trade and the notebook to pick up women, Gosling can't seem to let go of those notebooks. Then we have Hannah & her Sisters, actually just Hannah, played by Emma Stone. She is an aspiring lawyer who is self-confident and initially does not let herself be another Jacob conquest when they first meet. Hannah wishes to be proposed to marriage by Richard, an uninteresting lawyer at the practice where she interns; it is quite evident that the charismatic Hannah is in a higher court than Richard, who is really a dick, by nickname of course (coughing twice). There is a quasi-creepy side plot in the movie of the babysitter of Cal & Emily's kids that I will not provide too much info on because that would be downright stupid to spoil it for you. Co-Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa do incorporate crazy in the movie with a lot of love, but it is hardly ever stupid. So yea, I do commend Team Ficqua for their crafty orchestration of "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and for not letting it drown to the formulaic pitfalls of most romantic comedies. And it sure looks like Dan Fogelman was the write man to pen up the witty screenplay of the movie. I could not think who else can "Calify" to play Cal than Steve Carell himself, and he was up to par with a steady performance as Cal. Julianne Moore once again brings more to the table in each role and here is no different with her solid work as Emily. I would have liked to see more of Emma Stone (in more ways than one, call that one under the stupid comment category) but she continues to shine with each thespian assignment; and yes, it is another performance that earns her an Easy A in acting. Gosling was a scene-stealer even though at times I was thinking that he was auditioning for the remake of "American Gigolo". There were some fine supporting work also from the underrated John Carroll Lynch as the babysitter's father (sounds like a scary movie), Marisa Tomei as a teacher that becomes a one-night Cal gal, and Kevin Bacon as a colleague of Emily who wants her to eat his bacon to another degree. I did tell you that there were crazy, stupid puns in this review! So stop yelling at me!! Anyways, if you reached to this point of my review, you must be crazy. But please do not be stupid and miss the enjoyable "Crazy, Stupid, Love". ***** Excellent