Good Lite Drama

Rating: 7/10 (13 November 2011)

Cal (Carell) learns his wife Emily (Moore) wants a divorce from what he thought was a happy marriage. He meets Jacob (Gosling) who changes Cal into a ladies man, sort of.
I thought this was going to be another lame chick flick with no-laughs, dirty sex talk, raunchy language, no clever sight gags along with silly and stupid things that are mandatory in a Hollywood comedy. And, I was foaming at the mouth just thinking about how scathing a review I would write. I couldn't wait for this to be over to start writing.
Well, I was wrong. This had none of that except the no-laughs part still held true (and, one F-bomb was uttered). This is not a comedy although billed as such. This is lite-drama and was well acted. Quite enjoyable.
And, it got complicated: Cal is getting a divorce from Emily who is seeing David Lindhagen (Bacon) at work; Jessica (Tipton), the baby sitter, is in love with Cal; Jacob teaches Cal how to pick up women now that Cal is single; Cal's 13-yr old son Robbie (Bobo) is in love with 17-yr old Jessica; Cal picks up Kate (Tormei) who is also Robbie's teacher. Emily is surprised that Cal knows Kate and has dated her. Then Jacob says he has found true love, for the first time, and Cal is impressed until he discovers that Jacob is in love with Hannah (Stone). Now, Cal is angry because he knows about Jacob and how he behaves around women. Then Jessica's father Bernie (Lynch) is shown naked pictures Jessica's mother found in Jessica's bureau that were of Jessica that Jessica took to interest Cal in her (Remember Jessica is in love with Cal. Keep up). Got it?
Then they all meet, somehow, in the back yard of Cal's (now Emily's) house and a fight breaks out. Cops are called who tell everyone if they are going to fight, do it in the house and keep it all in the family. This was the closest we came to some actual humor.
I saw many places for good lines, some comedic facial expressions and some rather good sight gags, but none showed up and I wasn't consulted. Just the normal stuff as I described above. Kind of like a slice of life within a family that went off center for a while.
The name David Lindhagen was mentioned many times in the movie and acted almost like a punch line in some conversations. There is a nice little surprise regarding Hannah. If you watch the movie you will see what I mean and be surprised too. Can't tell you now as that will spoil everything.
I have told you most things that you will discover anyway as you go along, but keep in mind that it's in the telling that the story unfolds and you don't know everything. Yet.
Violence: Yes, the fight in the back yard. Sex: Yes, under covers in a darkened room You see nothing. Nudity: No. Jessica took nude photos of herself, but we didn't see them. Language: One F-bomb was heard. About 20 A-Holes was heard too.