Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

Rating: 8/10 (14 November 2014)

In real life, love can be messy and irrational, but in the end it's still worth fighting for. At its heart, I believe that is the message that this film tries, and mostly succeeds, at conveying. Romantic comedies have never really been my cup of tea, but few have managed to keep me rapt like this one managed to do. This film was filled with lifelike characters told a compelling, relatable story that, while messy and overstuffed at times, still wrangled the many threads and brought them together in an interesting and completely unexpected way.
The story is centered around Cal Weaver (Steve Carell, playing his usual schlubb character), whose wife just asked him for a divorce. Completely blindsided by this development, he descends into self-pity, starts frequenting bars and venting out loud to anyone within earshot. This desperation eventually attracts the attention of Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), a suave ladies' man who helps Cal recapture his manhood and sense of self. This leads to all sorts of misadventures and awkward situations, but where the story ends up is both expected and unexpected at the same time. Rounding out the cast is Julianne Moore as Cal's wife Emily, Kevin Bacon as the man who Emily cheats on her husband with, John Carroll Lynch as a family friend and Emma Stone as Hannah, an up-and-coming lawyer who gets involved with Jacob. Despite having such a large cast, they do end up spending enough time with each character, although the movie's pacing suffers at times and ends up feeling a little disjointed. They all give great, naturalistic performances, even the younger actors. On a more technical note, the film was well-shot, even though comedies tend not to have distinctive filming styles or cinematography. The eclectic soundtrack is also worth mentioning, even though a few cuts were a little too "on-the-nose."
Stepping back a little bit, at first the movie felt like it was trying to accomplish too much. It starts off where a lot of movies start to end, so I thought to myself where it could possibly go from there. The answer is pretty far. It took a rather labored premise and did something fresh with it, and the chemistry and likability of the cast only made things that much better. My feelings might have been mixed towards the beginning, but as the film progressed I only grew to appreciate it more. Sure, it might not quite live up to its title, but it put forth such a great effort that I have to applaud it for that. It's proof that there is some life in the romantic comedy genre yet. I highly encourage you to see this, if only for the pleasure of seeing its incredible cast at work, but hopefully also for the intimate and honest exploration of love and the human condition.