logan j. fowler and bill bodkin look at the new all-star rom-com …
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Rent.
Crazy Stupid Love has a “who’s who” of some of my favorite actors working today — Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and Marisa Tomei. And one can’t scoff at the casting of Julianne Moore, either. Watching the trailer for Crazy Stupid Love, I couldn’t help but be charmed by it. Guy loses wife, gets advice from ladies man to seek out new woman, ladies man falls in love, seeks advice from guy who lost his wife. The pairing of Carell and Gosling seems like a good choice, and here Carell downplays his zany antics for a more dramatic approach. Meanwhile, Gosling, normally a restrained nice guy with a problem like in Half Nelson and Lars and the Real Girl (yes, I’ve seen The Notebook, and yes, he was like an in-between of his role here and the roles I mentioned), plays a bachelor who women melt over. Emma Stone is super cute (and funny) and Marisa Tomei has impressed me in her latest films. So why not theater? Don’t want to risk plunking down money for something that might be a dud. But Crazy Stupid Love looks pretty entertaining, so when released on home video, I’ll more than likely give it the time of day.
— LJF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK68Y3oMEk8
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Theater.
My wife seems to really have her heart set on this one, so I might be pulling double duty watching this and Cowboys And Aliens on their respective opening day next week. And I don’t think I’ll mind watching this as I feel it has “good rom com” written all over it. The trailer reminds me of non-holiday version of Love Actually minus the intersecting vignettes that tie into together aspect. The formula’s are quite similar — a highly marketable and most importantly, likeable all-star cast directed by a (somewhat) proven comedic writer/director. The likeability of the cast is what’s going to save Crazy Stupid Love from its weaknesses. It’s extremely hard not to like Steve Carrell, Emma Stone or Ryan Gosling. They all have this intrinsic warm, fuzzy positive aura around them so that even if the film suffers from plotholes and cliches, you’ll forgive it due to the talent onscreen. My only concern is that we’ve seen most of the funny in the trailer and that the film will be a little too serious for its own good.
— BB
