One of the best of the genre

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2011)

This is not an all time great in the overall category but for the ROM-com genre it really is one of the best. The difficulty with making a good ROM-com is that it is difficult to stray away form the formulaic, and this is not exactly a new type of ROM-com. This film combines a mixture of a quick and witty script, fantastic performances and a story that is actually engrossing. Cal (Steve Carell) is stumped when his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) asks for a divorce seemingly out of the blue. He goes through stages of depression until he is approached in a bar by Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a serial womaniser who takes pity on Cal and offers to spruce him up and bring back the confidence and manliness that Cal has lost over the years. This is a cliché but I really don't want to say anymore as you need to watch it basically blind (and the trailer in my opinion gave too much away). I rarely laugh out loud while watching a film and it does take quite a lot to make me laugh but I found this film absolutely hilarious and at the same time very heartfelt. This has to be accredited to, as previously mentioned, the script and acting. Steve Carell was perfect. He steered away from his typical "Steve Carell" type character in this role a lot more than usual and possessed streaks of brilliance. Julianne Moore was very good as expected. Ever since "A Single Man" the actress has been on fire. But what can you say about Ryan Gosling? He is a incredible talent who is getting bigger and bigger every year. His presence was felt throughout the film and he put in the kind of performance when you missed him when he wasn't on. Emma Stone did very well but her part was sadly too small. The youngest member of the cast put in a really memorable performance portraying first love which was both nostalgic and very funny. Seriously watch this.