By: Neil Smith
Proof that "intelligent", "Hollywood" and "comedy" can co-exist in the same sentence comes this week in the form of Crazy, Stupid, Love, an amusing, entertaining and, yes, intelligent rom-com that represents a welcome antidote to the more oafish likes of The Change-Up, Horrible Bosses and The Hangover Part II.
It's also proof that Ryan Gosling - also to be found in cinemas this week as a getaway driver for hire in ice-cool crime thriller Drive - is one of Tinseltown's most watchable young stars, even when cast as what essentially amounts to a walking cliché.
The Canadian actor plays Jacob, a handsome lothario and ladykiller who makes it his mission in life to bed as many unattached females as humanly possible. While eyeing the fillies one night at his favourite watering hole, however, he impulsively takes pity on Cal (Steve Carell), a fortysomething sad-sack drowning his sorrows at the bar and telling his tale of woe to anyone who'll listen.
Having recently learned his beloved spouse Emily (Julianne Moore) has been playing away from home and now wants a divorce, Cal is at his lowest ebb. To Jacob, though, he represents a challenge. Can he take this unprepossessing specimen, remould him in his own image and give him back his self-respect, not to mention the ability to have as much fun between the sheets as Jacob does?
What follows is a highly enjoyable spin on Pygmalion that sees Carell gradually cast off his schlubby persona and become the promiscuous man about town he has always dreamed of being. Deep down though, Cal really just wants Emily back. Will his new image make her see him afresh? And will it be enough for her to cast off his rival, the unspeakable David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon)?
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That is one plot strand in Dan Fogelman's well-crafted if perhaps slightly busy script. Another deals with Jacob's own realisation that he's fallen for Hannah (Emma Stone), a spunky trainee lawyer who's stubbornly resistant to his tomcat charms; while a third revolves around Cal's son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) and his inappropriate crush on his 17-year-old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton).
That's a lot of crazy love to jam into one two-hour film. Kudos to co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, then, for managing it so deftly in a movie which confidently straddles broad farce, tender romance and moments of bitter-sweet poignancy.
Okay, so Stone - soon to be seen in The Help and The Amazing Spider-Man - is a tad underserved by a role that doesn't take as much advantage of her natural vivacity as it could. Elsewhere, however, Marisa Tomei is a riot as Cal's randy first conquest, while newcomer Tipton shows real comic chops as a gawky teen with her own inappropriate crush to cope with.
Throw in a pair of unexpected twists and a raft of great one-liners and you have a real treat that, bar a sudsy climax at Robbie's middle-school graduation, rarely puts a well-heeled foot wrong.
Verdict: You'd be both crazy and stupid to miss it.
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