Lars and the Real Girl

[Fairweather Pure]

This was released last week on DVD.

The movie is about a painfully shy man who lives in a samll town in Canada. One day he shows up with a Real Doll, and by all accounts treats it as if it were a real woman. His brother and brother's wife take him to the town doctor who declares that since Lars is fully functional and able to take care of himself, this is a delusion and not full blown mental illness. She says they should play along with the delusion and see if it works itself out. They enlist the townsfolk to also play along in order to help Lars work through this issue.


I thought it was a remarkable film. It's not "haha" funny, but you'll find yourself laughing many times throughout the movie. Once you suspend a bit of disbelief, the movie is 100% enjoyable. I think they helped this by making Lars's brother the straight man. He expresses what everyone in the audience is feeling. So, if he can play along, so can we. This is a movie about love. Not the love for a sex doll, but the love of family, friends, and community. By the end of the film, you realize the Real Doll was nothing but an object that brings everyone together. Ryan Gosling is my idol now. With a plot like this, the lead is everything and he pulled it off in spades. He should've gotten more attention for his acting in this movie. Hell, the film itself should've gotten much, much more attention. It's one of the best films of '07.

I kept expecting the movie to follow all the typical Hollywood pitfalls, but it always remained on it's own path. There was one part in particular where I was like "Ok, these teenagers are going to rip into him, he'll freak, and then everyone will be afraid of him". Nope. Many times I was expecting a right turn, and much to my surprise, the movie took a left instead.

I would rank Gosling's performance up there with Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, Billy Bob in Sling Blade, or even DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. While Lars is far from retarded in this film, his character walks a fine line between "just barely normal" due to his extreme shyness. Gosling fucking nailed it. I'll be watching him very closely from here on out. He really picks his roles in a way much like Johnny Depp or DiCaprio. He chooses roles that challenge him. He doesn't seem to care at all about comercial success. The guy has a gift.

The overall feeling of this movie is rather meloncholy and morose. I think the small comedic parts seem even more funny because of this. The feeling is comparable to the end of Juno, where it wasn't really sad, but it was emotional none the less. I think I had similar feelings the first time I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. It wasn't really happy or sad, but something about it stuck with me.

I'm giving this a rare 10/10. It was daring, weird, wonderful, and somehow it all worked. This is one of the best movies that no one has ever heard of.

EDIT: The trailes for this are horrible. They play up the wackiness of the premise and make it out to be something it's not. I'm not surprised, because this would be a very difficult film to sum up in a 2 minute blurb.

[Winnow]

This was released last week on DVD.

The movie is about a painfully shy man who lives in a samll town in Canada.

say no more!

*NWS*

http://www.realdoll.com/

$6-7K will get you your own Real Doll.

[Leonaerd]

I had to turn this movie off less than halfway through because of how gawdawfully boring it was.

[Kaldaur]

Leonard's endorsement is enough to make me want to watch it. Plus, Ryan Gosling is an excellent actor.

[Leonaerd]

Leonard's endorsement is enough to make me want to watch it.

That's a weird reason to want to watch a movie. I would see it based on the original post. To each his own.

[Fash]

[Show]

Does she have a sister?

I am about halfway through this movie and thoroughly entertained and uncomfortable at the same time.

edit: finished it last night.. I enjoyed the movie a lot and really wanted to see how it worked out.