Quirky, entertaining "love" movie with many different entanglements.

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2011)

It used to be the screwball comedies of the 1950s and 1960s, where you would get so many complicated relationships. At first we had no idea where this one was headed but eventually it turned into a very entertaining diversion.
The mainstream story here involves a married couple who have been together for 25 years, and it seems that "love" has become stale. They are out for dinner, looking at the menu, when he asks if she knows what she wants she looks up and says "I want a divorce." This is a great surprise to him, a devoted husband and father.
The husband is Steve Carell as Cal Weaver in what amounts to a mostly serious role for the funny man. His wife is Julianne Moore as Emily Weaver. This quickly results in his moving to an apartment, and their 10 and 13 year old kids struggle with the new developments.
Despondent and confused Cal goes to a nightspot and meets Ryan Gosling as Jacob Palmer whose sole purpose in life appears to be picking up pretty ladies for one-night stands. Jacob observes Cal's sloppy appearance and awkward manner and decides to take him under his wing, to give him a new image and teach him the finer points of charming and picking up women.
All this transpires as Cal and Emily are wrestling with their personal feelings, realizing that they just want to be back together but not knowing how to handle it. The movie is filled with established actors, many in small roles, including the likes of Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, and Josh Groban in a non-singling role. As the movie nears its end the entanglements get more and more complicated, and funnier and funnier. Entertaining movie!
SPOILERS: The Emma Stone character, a newly minted lawyer, is actually the daughter of Cal and Emily, they were only 17 when she was born. She meets the dastardly Jacob and brings him home as her new love, which startles Cal, who it turns out had a one-night stand with his own 13-yr-old son's teacher who didn't know he was married. And on and on it goes. All seems to end well though as Cal and Emily realize they are soul mates and will get back together, forgiving each for unwise transgressions.