Strong In Every Area

Rating: 10/10 (10 March 2017)

Usually, I'm not a huge fan of this rom-com genre. There are just too many opportunities for films of this nature to go astray, from acting to story to ridiculousness. Fortunately, "Crazy Stupid Love" doesn't fall prey to those traps and instead provides a tight, stylish, funny, and even moving production that appeals to a broad range of movie-watchers.
For a basic plot summary, "Crazy Stupid Love" sees a middle-aged couple (played by Steve Carell & Julianne Moore) get a sudden divorce, shaking their family to the core. Concurrently, a suave love-guru (Ryan Gosling) takes Carell's sad-sack character and tries to turn him into a ladies man, all the while pursuing a mysterious, fresh-faced girl (Emma Watson) who is unlike any girl he has met before.
The calling-card of this flick is its ability to carry multiple plot lines over the duration of the film until they all converge in the end. There is never a shortage of things going on, all related to the central concept of the "craziness of love".
The acting has to be great for a movie like this to succeed, and that is exactly what we get here. While all the actors are impressive in their own right, it's their chemistry that really shines here. By the end, all of the major players have interacted with each other, and it all comes off seamlessly.
The "polish" of this film is also impressive. Everything is just so slick, from the dialogue to the clothing and especially the young cast members (Gosling & Stone, in particular). In short, this movie lacks nothing in the production-value department.
Overall, then, "Crazy Stupid Love" is a film that can be enjoyed by teens on up for a variety of different reasons. I watched primarily for Carell's acting, but was quickly drawn in by the innocent beauty of Stone and the slickness of Gosling. I'm sure you'll find a reason to be sucked in as well.