FILM REVIEW: Crazy Stupid Love.

Crazy Stupid Love.

From looking at the promotional poster and the title I thought that this movie looked terrible. I could't tell anything about what the film was about from looking at the poster but it certainly didn't look like anything to do with love. I didn't even recognise the actors in it (I think I'm going blind). On closer analysis I realised that I recognised all of them and they were all pretty well known so I decided to give it a chance.

As Crazy Stupid Love is a romantic comedy I assumed that reviews of it would be pretty bad, but I was wrong, as it actually has a rating of 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is remarkable for this genre. Perhaps the reason that it has such a high rating is because it's not about sappy love, it's about real love, about fighting for the one you love. Now it sounds like it might be a heavy movie, but it's not, the comic elements make it light-hearted and funny and there were several moments where I actually laughed out loud as opposed to the casual grin the usual rom-com cheesy jokes bring to my face.

This movie is basically about Cal (Steve Carell) and his family and friend's and their issues regarding love. Within the first couple of minutes of the film, Cal's wife has already asked him for a divorce, something I really wasn't expecting and that's when the story really kicks off. Cal meets Jason at a bar who really gives him a kick up the backside and helps him get his life sorted. Sort of. Well he manages to get Cal to stop moping around and he attempts to turn him into a suave and sexy man. Personally, I thought the movie got off to a rather slow start, but stick with it, it's definitely worth it and it gets much better. There is a large age range between the characters experiencing love and this brings diversity and some hilarity. It also shows that love is for everyone and anyone and you never know when it may strike.

Crazy Stupid Love combines a great plot with great actors and that's the key to it's success. Firstly, the actors bring recognition, as they are all quite famous and well-known. The protagonist is Steve Carell and he's joined by Ryan Gosling (The Notebook), Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven), Emma Stone (Easy A), Maisa Tomei (The Wrestler), Kevin Bacon (X-Men: First Class), Analeigh Tipton (America's Next Top Model), and many many more. As you can see these people are all well established with large numbers of nominated movies under their belts. Steve Carell is known for playing the role of the awkward guy who can't get the girl and initially that's exactly who his character, Cal, is, but then, he undergoes a transformation with the help of his new friend Jacob (Gosling) and he transforms and becomes confident and sexy, something which I, personally, have never seen Steve Carell pull off and surprisingly, he does it quite well. Most of the characters in this movie undergo some sort of personality tranformation during this movie and that is what really showed how talented all the actors were. The transitions were smooth and

I think what I love most about this movie is how the plot all came together. I have been able to predict the end of 99% of the rom-coms that I've watched in my life, but this one was different, I wasn't entirely sure what was coming or how it was going to happen. At the end, it becomes clear how all the different pieces of the story slot together and it really was quite ingenious and I was quite surprised.

I think this movie will appeal to both men and women because as I said, it isn't your usual sappy rom-com, with moments that kind of make you want to vomit. Men shouldn't be embarassed to go and see this in cinemas as they should find this equally enjoyable as women. If you're already in love then I guess you'll be able to relate to this even more than the rest of us so I definitely recommend it for you. As I mentioned there is a diverse age range in this movie so I think teenagers and above will find this movie appealing and funny.

I really love how all their adverts fit together... kind of like the plot ... and the balance between romance and comedy ... everything about this movie just works!