= 3 stars

Starring Ryan Gosling, Paul Schneider, Emily Mortimer
Directed by Craig Gillespie

Maybe we’ve hit a point where romantic comedies have matched up just about every possible odd couple so that the darker corners of the Internet are now fair game – and it certainly helps for the setting to be small-town, middle America with bread as white as the perpetually falling snow.

Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling), shy loner, lives in his older brother Gus’s (Paul Schneider) garage. He only comes over to dine with his brother and motherly sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer) after she tackles him in the driveway and bribes him with cherry pie. But Lars does have a day job, where his cubicle-mate introduces him a possible answer to his loneliness – an extremely realistic sex toy. Lars orders one named Bianca who arrives in a wooden crate. Soon Gus and Karin are having dinner with Lars and Bianca, a “quiet girl.”

The set-up is pretty funny and some initial scenes (especially the first family dinner) had me laughing out loud. Quite wonderful are the carefully nuanced performances, mainly Schneider’s slightly off behavior, his body language revealing his true feelings about his brother’s antics while saying otherwise. Picking food off a table or chopping vegetables becomes loaded with stifled emotions. Gosling gets a surprising amount of mileage playing a complete introvert. I found myself amused by Lars’ character ticks like eye squeezing, strange grins, and an oddly moving dance scene. I also enjoyed Watson and her wide-open heart, which forms an emotional center the other two characters are unable (or unwilling) to provide.

However, the film sags a bit as the town learns about Lars’ “delusion” and reacts to it – but not in wildly different ways. I felt they were too eager to accept Lars and his new girlfriend – basically sharing Karin’s disposition of motherly caring. I found myself hoping for some public mockery, Gus placing Lars under house arrest, or a perverted Bianca-kidnapping scene at the hands of Lars’ co-worker and horny bowlers.

The crux of Lars’ “delusion” is eventually hinted at as a family matter, but only partially addressed and not satisfyingly enough for me.

But as it stands, the film is one of those indie feel-good, accept-the-outsider-and-learn-something-about-yourself flicks. When the story slows down, you can always concentrate on the performances – even Bianca’s – who although her only active moments are falling over, I came to care about in an odd sort of way. Perhaps there will be a sequel where Lars, Gus, and Karin get to know the in-laws at the Folsom Street fair.

IMDB: Lars And The Real Girl
Wikipedia: Lars And The Real Girl
Rotten Tomatoes: Lars And The Real Girl 77%

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Posted In: 3 Star Movies, Movies 3 stars, Craig Gillespie, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Ryan Gosling

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