Occasionally amusing tale of bad boy mentor devolves into sentimental romance

Rating: 4/10 (24 December 2011)

'Crazy, Stupid, Love' is billed as a romantic comedy but ends up much more as a sentimental romance. The inciting incident comes up quite quickly: Wife Emily Weaver (Julianne Moore) announces she wants out of her 25 year marriage to husband Cal (Steve Carrell), after revealing that she's been having an affair with a colleague at work. It's a poorly written scene as Cal meekly acquiesces to Emily's demand and we never really find out why she's so dissatisfied in the first place.
After some rather long-winded scenes where Cal drowns his sorrows in drink at a local bar, bemoaning his fate as a marriage castaway, he finally meets Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) and we break into the second act of the story. Jacob is a womanizer, a 'player' of great skill, if you will, who takes pity on Cal and decides to teach him how to pick up women. This is perhaps the best and most amusing part of the movie where Jacob first picks out a new wardrobe for Cal and then orders him to watch him in action, as he seduces women step-by-step. At first Cal is resistant but soon learns how to imitate Jacob's every line and he ends up bedding nine women, one of whom happens to be Kate, the public school teacher of Cal's son Robbie, played by Marisa Tomei. Unfortunately, Kate is one of Tomei's least likable roles in awhile, as she is an over the top nymphomaniac, who ends up continually giving Cal the finger later in the story, for bedding her and then leaving her high and dry.
Meanwhile, other ditsy complications accrue. Robbie becomes obsessed with he and his sister's babysitter, Jessica, who in turn develops a crush on Cal. There's a rather unfunny bit where Jessica, upon the advice of a seductive high school student rival, takes nude pictures of herself with the plan of sending them to Cal, only to have them fall, way too easily, into the hands of her hot head father. Even worse is the obnoxious infatuation that festers in Robbie throughout the film. How much can an audience take of a 13 year old's creepy obsession that only abates at just about the final scene of the movie?
'Crazy, Stupid, Love' becomes a lot less 'crazy' in the second half, more stupid and pours on the 'love', a little too thick. It seems that the cool Jacob character turns into a cream puff when he falls for Hannah, who happens to be the adult daughter of Emily and Cal. There are virtually no clues (except for Cal's reference early in the narrative, to 'Nana', Hannah's childhood appellation), so the big 'twist' feels forced and unearned, on the part of the film's scenarists. Now the tables are turned and Jacob is turning to Cal for 'advice' on how to handle relationships. Cal's insecurity and goofiness is a now a badge of honor, as he can show Jacob how to 'be himself'.
While Cal wants to cut off all ties with Jacob, now that he's fallen for his daughter, it doesn't take long before an extra dose of 'love', becomes the more prominent moniker in 'Crazy, Stupid, Love'. Yes, Cal soon sees the light and is willing to embrace ex-bad boy Jacob, as his new, potential son-in-law. He interrupts Robbie's speech as Salutatorian of the school, who is in the middle of a put down about true love, due to his rejection by Jessica. Cal recounts his courtship of Emily, affirming his love for her. After the graduation ceremony, Cal hands Robbie the nude photos of Jessica, as his 'consolation prize'. Robbie agrees to call off his stalking of Jessica, by shaking her hand and promising to look her up only once he finally begins to look more like his Dad in a few years. As if we couldn't predict it, Cal and Emily are seen reminiscing about the events of the past year and the implication is of course, that they soon will be back together.
Even more disappointing than the transformation of bad boy Jacob into into a virtual milquetoast, Julianne Moore is saddled with the weakest role in the film. We learn little about Emily throughout the film—and the pseudo-romantic subplot involving the dull office colleague, David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon), proves to be a subplot that goes nowhere.
'Crazy, Stupid, Love' is occasionally amusing, especially when Carrell and Gosling face off in the first half. But by the denouement, we're back in the realm of the predictable, and even worse: an egregious, sentimental, happy-ending. Try this once but see it a second time at your own peril!