Adventures in The Talkies: Crazy Stupid Love

First of all, Kate and I went to the movie at the Lake Theater in Oak Park, which became my new favorite theater. They have $6 matinees, cherry Icees, and free refills on everything... which you don't need, because their large beverage is basically a five-gallon pickle bucket.

We saw trailers for 30 Minutes or Less (the trailer makes me laugh really, really hard, but Dave White's review, where he likens it to public school pizza, makes me a little hesitant to spend even $6 on it), the MTV Presents remake of Footloose (which I think Kate and I enjoyed equally as fodder for a 2+ minute opportunity to show off our wittiness and disgust), and Contagion (Kate loves, loves apocalypse-type and/or virus-type films; I like them too, and it's the first Soderbergh film that has appealed to me in a while; plus, look at the cast! Geez, it's everyone!).

Then Crazy Stupid Love. It was basically the movie I wanted Larry Crowne to be: genial, mushy, predictable but aware of its predictableness enough to tap its nose at the audience, and charming, charming, charming. Everyone was charming. Steve Carell was sad-sacky charming. Julianne Moore was slighty nervous, slightly emotional charming, Emma Stone was just flat-out amazing charming. Ryan Gosling was...

How can one man have washboard abs, aggressively masculine energy, and beep people's noses? It's like he was made in a lab! And not, like, Data, where he's all programmed without emotions. He's programmed with nothing but emotions. There is a scene he shares with Steve Carell at a bar towards the end of the movie, and it could have been such a hacky, trite emotional climax scene, but the way Gosling delivers, I felt him being disappointed and upset and fed-up and loving. And he basically says nothing in the last three or four minutes of the scene but clipped, unfinished sentences and exasperated sputters.

Ryan Gosling is the best. And if people are starting to get tired of him being in movies, I want people to know that I put up with a time where I couldn't escape Tom Cruise if I tried, so America owes me oversaturation on a performer that I like.

He is handsome.

Anyway, I don't know that there's a lot to say about the movie that I didn't encapsulate in my initial reaction (genial! mushy! very, very funny!). Even things I normally pick on in other movies--wiser-than-their-years kids; biiiiiiig music cues--engaged me and made me laugh and happy and sad, squinchy, trying-not-to-cry eyes. And best of all, unlike Larry Crowne, the redheaded female(s) were as charming and delightful as possible, and the movie did not try to teach me any lessons about America. I have friends for that, Rom-Com Movies (and sometimes Michael Moore) .

In conclusion, Ryan Gosling is so terrific, and if you thought The Notebook looked too maudlin, Lars and the Real Girl looked too indie-darling, and Blue Valentine and Half Nelson looked like they were specially designed Dysons that vacuumed hope and joy instead of crumbs and cat hair, this is your opportunity to enjoy a Ryan Gosling performance.*

*Though if you haven't watched Murder by Numbers 22 times on Oxygen, I am sort of disappointed in you. He rocks that red leather jacket.