Crazy, Stupid, Love is Smart, Funny and Weird.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is Smart, Funny and Weird.
I’m here to tell you that if Crazy, Stupid, Love had been made with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock; it would have been a very different movie that I probably, also, would have enjoyed.
This could have been a light-hearted glimpse into some troubled lives which then, as a matter of course, get resolved. Instead, it takes the improbably funny situations – infidelity, unrequited love, one-night stands and sexting, and makes it poignant, smart, heartfelt and funny. They throw a half dozen really really good actors at the script and the film turns into a “what if Kramer vs. Kramer was a romantic comedy.”
When I say the casting was excellent I’m talking about small, pivotal roles by Marisa Tomei (as hot chick to Steve Carell’s bar chat graduation) and Kevin Bacon (as Julianne Moore’s smarmy co-worker). Emma Stone’s friend is nailed by Liza Lapira, John Carroll Lynch is Carell’s schlubby fellow married guy. Analeigh Tipton is most improbable as the gangly babysitter; even I could tell she was just some make up from being a knockout. But both she and Jonah Bobo rose to the occasion.
The occasion I speak of is what I’m going to call the “Carell-Effect.” Without enough information I’d like to make a statement. Steve Carell makes all things better. Did you see Dan in Real Life? I did… it was horribly cast. But, just by being around him, Dane Cook was interesting and funny and sweet – everything that you knew he could be in a movie if he rose to the occasion. And he did. I posit that it was because of his proximity to Steve Carell.
Funny was not the overwhelming emotion I left the theater with after the show. The characters were played so honestly that I felt sad as they went through all this. This isn’t just a romantic comedy. It’s a tragic comedy that is better than it had to be. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
As with all romantic comedies, even exceptional ones, there is always a “b-plot” – a message that the script or director wanted to make that isn’t overt to the storyline. Crazy, Stupid, Love real point is that you should continue to care about your appearance. I’m working on not wearing sneakers everywhere.
–Jackie Kashian
