Reviewed by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
The battle of the sexes is over and we won, Ryan Gosling’s character, Jacob, tells Cal (Steve Carell from The Office) at the beginning of the serious comedy (and that is an oxymoron, I know) Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Jacob, a cad in his thirties, is quite successful at picking up women at bars and likes it that way.
Forty something years old Cal, on the other hand, is a mess after his wife of 25 years confesses to him of having an affair and asks for a divorce.
When the two meet in a singles bar, Jacob offers unsolicited advice to fashion Cal after Jacob’s ideal man (mainly himself).
Twenty something Hannah (Emma Stone) is studying for her bar exam. She is also hoping her boring, self-centered boyfriend will propose to her, to the dismay of her girl friend who worries that if Hannah is content to marry such a loser, what kind of man would she have to settle with? (Because, according to Hollywood, looks is all that matters in the mating game).
At the same time, Cal’s fourteen year old son, Robbie, is insanely in love with his babysitter, Jessica, who is seventeen and has a huge crush on Cal. Cal, of course, is totally oblivious to the fact.
So the movie starts.
It gets more complicated as Cal becomes a cad himself and has his pick of women at the bar. One of them will get him in trouble later in one of the implausible plot twists, while Jacob falls for a woman. And Hannah’s boyfriend does not propose, and Robbie pursues his love undaunted by multiple rejections and Jessica makes a bold move.
And so the movie goes, with twists and turns unpredictable and not so much, to a final confrontations that worked for me and an epilogue of sorts, Hollywood style, that didn’t work at all.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is entertaining and if you like comedies I’m sure you will love it.
Click at the trailer below to have a taste: