A rom com worth watching

Rating: 7/10 (12 October 2018)

I'm not much of a fan of 'rom-coms' (maybe being a guy?!), but I am a big fan of Steve Carell, so I figured I'd give 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' a go and, I'm pleased to say, that I wasn't disappointed. If you've ever watched one romantic comedy then you've pretty much seen the formula, i.e. boy meets girl, boy loses girl etc. And, 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' doesn't really deviate from this (is that a 'spoiler?'). However, just because it doesn't reinvent the wheel in terms of story-telling, doesn't mean it isn't fun.
In this case, 'boy' has already met 'girl,' as the film opens with Julianne Moore telling Steve Carell that she wants a divorce. From there on he goes off the rails, spending his nights in bars, drunkenly lamenting his failed family life, until he's taken under the wing of (near 'professional!') pick-up artist, played by Ryan Gosling, who then helps him learn the ways of the Force (in 'Star Wars' terms), or at least talk to women.
The distinctly A-list cast makes up for the tired format and the bottom line is that 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' is funny. Yes, if I was going further I'd say it was 'uplifting' and has a 'positive emotional message.' However, ultimately I was looking to be entertained and this film did just that. The characters are decent enough for you to care about them without ever becoming caricatures or cliches. It mainly focuses in the three stars I've already mentioned, but you also have Emma Stone and Kevin Bacon in there as well (who aren't used possibly as much as they could have been).
If I can one main criticism it's that the film is actually quite long for a romantic comedy (I even thought it was coming to a close around the hour mark!) and it does slow down in a couple of places (in fact, it was around the hour mark that Emma Stone's character - properly - comes into it). The ending is what you'd expect, so if you can forgive the lulls in pace here and there, it is actually quite good fun - especially if you're happy with plenty of sexual gags and situations.