Succeeds in every way, with a wonderful performance from Carell

Rating: Null/10 (30 September 2011)

Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) goes into shock when his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) tells him she wants a divorce (she has been having a low-key affair with work colleague Dave (Kevin Bacon). Cal reacts by spending evenings at a bar drunkenly telling anyone who will listen (and many who won't) about his problems: pick-up artist Jacob (Ryan Gosling) decides to take on Cal as a project and remodel him for his new circumstances. Factor in Gosling's interest in lawyer Hannah (Emma Stone), Cal's son's yearning for babysitter Jessica (who is herself infatuated with Cal), and some additional wrinkles...
It is fair, I think, to call this film a romantic comedy - it features at least six romantic relationships and is, at times, very funny indeed. But it is also deadly serious at times, and contains some deep truths about people and their relationships, romantic or otherwise.
While the eventual resolution is no surprise, there are a number of surprises on the way, and these are very welcome (one, in particular, leads to a very funny physical sequence on Cal's lawn). There are a number of places when you are laughing one moment and all choked up the next.. And there are some terrific payoffs, in particular the storyline between Cal's son and babysitter Jessica.
Let me say that this is a wonderful part for Steve Carell, and he picks up the ball and runs with it. His performance here is mesmerising at times, particularly in the early stages where you see a decent man who wants nothing more than to do the right thing, hurt, bewildered, angry, shocked, and completely unable to process what has happened to him, and all conveyed in a performance of quiet and stillness.
Pleasingly, the bad language is kept to a minimum.
I rate this film very highly, and recommend it thoroughly.