Clever, Sexy, Comedy

Although I'd heard plenty of great things about last year's Crazy, Stupid, Love, which stars Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, and Ryan Gosling,  I hadn't yet seen the film (it was the inflight feature on my trip home over winter break, but I fell asleep before takeoff. I repeated this mistake coming home for spring break and missed The Artist.)

Last night, though, my dad and I took advantage of a free Redbox coupon and rented this smartly written comedy.  The movie delivered its fair share of laughs and "awwww" moments; it's the rare sincere romantic comedy that (for the most part) doesn't mistake blatant slapstick or gross-out scenes for actual humor.

Since I'm the one person on the planet who doesn't watch The Office, when I see Steve Carell, all I can think of is Brick, his endearingly moronic character in Anchorman.  So, I was pleasantly surprised by his mostly subtle performance as Cal in Crazy, Stupid, Love: in the earlier scenes of the movie, he nailed Cal's emotional breakdown.  Julianne Moore, though gorgeous, didn't seem to have much to do in this film, and the scenes focusing on her character were pretty forgettable.

As Hannah, Redhead Jr. aka Emma Stone, hit a nice balance between cute, quirky, and awkward. I've yet to jump on the "Ryan-Gosling-is-Mr.-Hottieness-of-the-universe" bandwagon, but I did very much appreciate his incredible abs (I also appreciated Hannah's "It's like you're Photoshopped!" comment. And Cal's "This is so cliche," when rain inexplicably begins pouring as his life devolves into a shambles.  Movies that make fun of their own genre are a win in my eyes.)

Both my dad and I agreed, though, that the real standouts of the film were Analeigh Tipton as Jessica the babysitter, Marisa Tomei as a middle school teacher, and Liza Lapira as Hannah's friend Liz.  Tipton, of ANTM fame, was awkwardly hilarious: several of her scenes made me simultaneously laugh and squirm with second-hand embarrassment.  Oscar-winner Tomei has a small part in the plot, but clearly relishes her character's zaniness.  Lapira plays the stock rom-com sassy best friend, but did so with aplomb.  There's a serious deficit of Asian casting in Hollywood, and I'd love to see more of her. 

Overall, I thought the film was pretty well done: call me crazy or stupid, but in my opinion, so long as you don't harbor a deep-seated hatred towards lighthearted romance and mildly sarcastic comedy, there's no reason not to love (or at least like) this movie!