I missed the screenings of “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and haven’t made it to the theater to see it since it released this weekend. But, by request, here’s a place for those thoughts if you’d like to share. I have to say, though, that the split in opinions on this one have me really intrigued. So I’ll definitely see it sooner than later, but tell us what you thought.
Comments
45 responses to “Tell us what you thought of ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’”
It was such a generic cliched “Hollywood Product” type of film. I mean, like that Steve Carrel speech at the end…sooo cheesy. and so many scenes like that too.
It has its moments and some jokes are really funny, but overall, it’s not memorable. The cast is the only thing that carries the film’s weight.
I agree with the above, It was okay, but it was a bit cliched and had too many subplots. However, the cast was good.
For lighthearted fare, I enjoyed it. The cast carries the otherwise generic film. Nice little twist toward the end, though.
Ditto here: Emma Stone, Julianne Moore, and Ryan Gosling are very interesting people to follow for two hours. But the script self-destructs at the end with a super-cheesy scene at the son’s middle-school graduation. Even the son, though, was well-cast.
I liked it a lot. Here were the standouts for me: Marissa Tomey (delightful), Ryan Gosling (perfectly cast, magnetic, women in the audience cheered when on the screen), Emma & Ryan chemistry (the Dirty Dancing night especially).
They should give Julianne Moore more the quality to work with. At times the movie felt slow.
Really enjoyed the film with the exception of anything to do with the young son and his inappropriate crush on his 17yo babysitter. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone had chemistry AND THEN SOME and i wish the pair of them had more scenes. Steve Carrell was perfectly cast as he is really the only actor I know who could play this character. And Ryan Gosling looks amazing in suits… and out of them. Just for that alone really this film deserves a thumbs up.
Loved it.
What is inappropriate about a 13 year old boy who is in love with a 17 year girl? Happens all the time.
Not to mention it’s perfectly legal. Silly conservatives.
I find the ensemble to be the main attraction. The Fogelman script, which I respect for trying to be something different and ambitious, nevertheless succumbs to conventionality too often. With reservations, I think it’s worth checking out just because the filmmakers seem to be making such an effort and, in this genre, that seems rarer than it should be. Here’s my full review:
http://bit.ly/ngIz7n
I thought that it was really good until the cliched and mediocre ending. Tomei and Bacon needed to be used as more than plot devices, and the numerous twists somewhat ruined the flow of the movie. Gosling and Tomei were hilarious and Carell was just well. The rest of the cast was solid as well. It should have been better, but it’s solid enough to be a Golden Globe contender by the end of the year. Probably the funniest movie I’ve seen since Easy A. Overall, 7/10
(SPOILERS)
In Carell’s speech at the end, he says something along the lines of “my son, not him, but my actual son…”. What was he referring to?
The film fails to be the mature rom-com because it fails to make the tough decisions and be cruel to its characters, which are mostly one-dimensional anyway. Gosling and Stone are the most interesting thing here, but they’re far too minimized in the film, and the final thirty minutes render Stone’s characterization practically irrelevant.
@m1 He was referring the son he knows his son really is. Not the son who is spitting lies at the microphone. It’s a really schmaltzy moment within a really dishonest scene.
A missed opportunity. We don’t really understand the character’s motivations for the central problem of the film because we really don’t know anything about them or their relationship to others before the events of the movie. There’s a fantastic farcical scene in a backyard involving all the characters, but for a certain surprise in that scene to work, essential character connections have been sacrificed, and the movie suffers for it.
Hollywood continues its obsession with mini-adults in children’s bodies. The 13 year old is so unbelievable as a 13 year old. Worst part of the film.
Stone and Gosling are wonderful (together). I wish they had more to do than look sexy.
Julianne Moore gives an awards worthy performance. She’s so good even with the marginal material she’s given.
The fact that it’s a “better” romantic comedy than most says more about the romantic comedy and less about the movie’s own goodness.
It’s a “winning” movie from likable actors.
@Cinesnatch @tony rock I guess I misworded that a bit. The crush itself wasn’t inappropriate, but the obsessive nature of it was a little bit bordering on sexual harrasment. The girl on several occastion kept telling him how uncomfortable she was over this. AND THEN HER inappropriate reaction at the end of the film. It all just felt a bit skeevy. Also, wow, I’ve been called a conservative. My world is suddenly upside-down.
12-Oh, okay. I was under the impression that there was going to be a plot twist about the boy being adopted.
A qualified delight.
Who knew Gosling could be so charismatic in the cliched ladies man role?
Tomei’s performance is over the top but riotous all the same.
What disappointed me was the shift from sober romantic dramedy to farce in the final reel. It’s handled well by an ace cast, but the slapstick elements could have been left behind. The same can be said to Emma Stone’s back story.
But there’s too many great lines here to ignore. I’d rather watch “Crazy” than just about any limp rom-com we’ve seen this year.
The overall vibe from this movie is that everyone, with the possible exceptions of Gosling and Moore, are all trying WAY too hard to be cute, funny, sexy and appealing. The screenplay has about as much depth and resonance as an episode of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. The film is photographed like a greasy, pervy sex drama like 9 1/2 weeks or something. Nearly every single character has a creepy, stalkerish vibe to them.
The worst is Jonah Bobo (what a great, appropriate name) as a douschy, wise-beyond-his-years 13 year-old. The final shot of the movie is a close-up of this kid smirking back into the camera.
If this was being marketed as a sex farce or as some glossy romantic fantasy, then maybe it wouldn’t feel like such a cop-out. Rather, WB is promoting this as some “honest” look at love and heartbreak. Give me a break.
The first hour and a half was like a Twinkie: Sweet but very, very processed. But the last 20 minutes, including the climax and finale, was an absolute nightmare on par with having 20 Twinkies fighting each other in your stomach. Awful cliches, a graduation scene with dialogue that only happens in bad movies, and the sort of slapstick found on mid-season replacement sitcoms. The adult actors are generally strong, but anything involving Carrell and Moore’s son was either lame or downright creepy. Not that I mind creepiness, just not in such a light comedy and certainly not involving a 13 year old who supposed to be some sort of preconscious truth-teller.
I had a great time watching this movie. Excellent cast hitting all sorts of funny and touching moments beautifully. The script is mostly witty, smart and surprising, although I agree the final graduation scene is where the script succumbs to cliche more than managing to subvert it, as within the first 3/4ths of the movie.
Probably the best mainstream RomCom we are likely to get this year, it should be said.
If it were a Modern Family episode, it would get a B-. Visually more interesting than it had any right to be though.
That being said, the Gosling-Stone hookup was great.
Tomei and the babysitter were also stand-outs.
I haven’t seen it, but the reaction here is pretty much what I expected based on the reviews I’ve read. Thanks for the thread.
I’m mainly interested because of the cast. I’ve long adored Moore and Gosling has quickly become one of my favorite young actors. So I’ve enjoyed reading so many people say he seems to have the comic chops to go with the dramatic chops we already knew he had. If nothing else, his performance rounds out his resume nicely. Frankly, I’m just glad to see him working so much. He seemed to disappear a bit for a year or two before Blue Valentine.
It sounds like the script has it’s moments but dissolves into a mess at the end. I don’t expect much from the Rom Com genre. Maybe in that context, it’s better than average if still fumbled at the end?
I dug it.
I enjoyed it a lot. The co-directors, between this and “I Love You Phillip Morris”, do seem to try to do things a bit differently, which is lovely considering how formulaic this genre can be.
I enjoyed this. And I echo those who say “mostly for the cast”. Each of them has a few fantastic moments.
Best in show for me were Gosling & Stone (yay x2). But I also thought Steve Carrell handled the quieter/reflective moments very well. I was surprised. Julianne Moore is always a delight. Marisa Tomei was a hoot. It was nice seeing Kevin Bacon. I loved the twist scene in the yard.
But I didn’t really care for the 13 yr. old/17 yr. old storyline all that much (many are saying the same). The script had some issues. My interest in the narrative went in & out, at times. But it’s a good 7.5/10 for me for pure enjoyment factor. And the audience in theater seemed to eat it up (lots of people over 40).
All that said, for all those who say that the script isn’t ‘good’ when comparing it to amazing romcoms of the past, I’m genuinely curious – which scripts are you referring to?
I find that most romcom scripts have moments of contrivance or inconsistency. No romcom script is perfect.
Take out the Crazy and Love, and you get a hint of what I thought about this movie.
Biggest disappointment of the year so far. I don’t know what I was thinking.
I agree with almost everything I’ve read on here. Good and bad. I loved the movie – in spite of the fact that it’s boldly cheesy at parts, and by all accounts a romantic comedy. I just really got into it. And I like that it had a morality ethic that was slightly unconventional by Hollywood standards. It was just a bit more interesting and a bit more true than the movies like it usually are.
As everyone else has said a big part of that was the cast. Especially Ryan Gosling – he was one of the biggest reasons my wife wanted to see it, and I came out at the end even more in love with him than she is.
It was a bit like an American “Love Actually” and, for us, that wasn’t a bad thing.
If this had directed by Woody Allen in front of it, half of you would be pissing yourselves.
I think the general consensus is that Ryan Gosling is one of the best parts of CSL. He is surprisingly great in a comedy… not that I went into the film expecting him to suck because the kid can act (and then some) but this is a genre he has steered clear from (unless you count Young Hercules as comedy which I may have).
The only problem I had with this film were all the side-plots. It seemed like 95% of the film was dedicated to Carell and Moore’s relationship fall-out with random slide burbs featuring Gosling/Stone, Gosling/Carell, babysitter/Cal’s son, Kevin Bacon/Moore, Marissa Tomei/Carell, etc. I always found Tomei to be a bit too much… funny at times, but I was a little annoyed by the end.
Overall, I thought CSL was a genuinely admirable effort and the acting was spot on. I went to a nearly full showing, and the laughter was pretty loud and consistent so I guess that always indicates something good esp. when it’s a comedy.
Was anyone else a little freaked out at the end *SPOILER ALERT* when the babysitter gives Cal’s son his “graduation present”?
“Was anyone else a little freaked out at the end *SPOILER ALERT* when the babysitter gives Cal’s son his “graduation present”?”
I know, right? Some of the jokes in this film, like in Juno or Easy A, were a bit much for a PG-13, I thought.
I thought it was great. Uniformly strong and multifaceted acting. Emma Stone was my favorite – unbelievably good delivery – but there were so many excellent performances. I agree that the storyline with the son and the babysitter was, even more than off-putting, simply less interesting than the others. And the script certainly has a few flaws. But overall, on par with Bridesmaids for me – a solid 3/3.5 out of 4 (I’m an easy grader).
[SPOILER] By the way, I adored the very last moment in the film between Carell and Moore; the touch of ambiguity the screenwriters left in was really spot-on.
Loathed it. Has no connection whatsoever to reality or emotional truth. Not one character behaves how any tangible human being would. Filled with cutesy insincere bullshit to coddle soccer moms and emotionally weak saps. Carell is the one cast member who delivers anything closely resembling a good performance. Tomei is by far the worst of the ensemble, not given any real direction and instead resorting to shrieking and making funny faces.
I think people are being way too critical of this movie. The movie had an infectious charm to it. It worked because we care about these actors. I wish there had been more Tomei, but I was glad to see her be so extreme.
I thought the Carell monologue was fine. I think the characters knew how cheesy the moment so it worked. People are being too hard on it. Just because Oscar nominees are in a movie doesn’t mean it can’t be lightweight.
m1, I agree with you about the photos. Very strange. I felt like there was a really creepy movie trying to rear its head but the sugar kept it at bay.
Not trying to advertise another site on here, but I always enjoy The Projector’s take on “fixing”films (plus, they tend to give this site a shout out!)… I found their take on C, S, L to be pretty accurate and echoes a lot of criticism in the comments: http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/the-projector/movie-doctor-fix-crazy-stupid-love-170042887.html
See, even they think the ending scene with the babysitter and son is bordering on TOO creepy!
I loved it — it was entertaining and sweet. Why is everyone picking it apart?
Agreed, Lee.
Is the screenplay perfect? Hell, no. Will it win awards? No.
But I enjoyed many parts, most of the performances, and walked out having experienced a very congenial time with the rest of my party and the theater.
Ugh. Hollywood patter of the worst kind. Cliche-riddled with only likable performances to save it from itself. (Although Moore wasn’t showing off her A-game.)
There were nice storytelling touches, yes, but the actual writing and direction were pretty dreadful from start to finish. (Click my name to read more bashing and rationalizing.)
Only for serious Gosling fans — otherwise a waste of time.
I would call it a waste of time. Isn’t that why we go to the movies?
… to escape what’s going on in our lives and try to feel something ELSE for 2-ish hours? Whether it be pain, laughter, relief, kitsch, fun, drama, etc.
I went to CSL hoping to simply forget about my troubles for a few hours. I relaxed, smiled, chuckled, liked the twist, found it more endearing than expected, and was pleased when it was over.
The fact that it wasn’t some trashy, insipid romcom – and the fact that it included some of my favorite actors (who gave nice turns) – only added to my enjoyment.
Yes, the film has its flaws, but the cast is great and the writing was 10x better than most rom-coms out there. This really isn’t strictly a rom-com. And I found much more involving and believable than Friends with Benefits, which was much more contrived and Hollywood-y.
loved it… the movie snobs who criticize it are just that…movie snobs.
I loved Carrell, Gosling, Stone and Tomei… Moore is a weak actress in most of her parts.
Saw it today, all in all, a slightly better than average rom com. Some seriously awkward and forced scenes/plotlines. But, as people and critics have said, this cast makes it all work for the most part. Gosling and Stone are soooo fricking charming. They deserved their own movie. I could watch those two flirt for hours. I was also impressed with Carrell. The movie is kind of a mess, but there are few rather touching, insightful, smartly written scenes scattered throughout. Carrell and Moore pull them off well. Tomei is wasted on a character shrill and annoying. Overall, I’d give the movie a B-, maybe a B if considered in the genre of rom coms.
It says a lot that I walked away liking the film. With other actors, I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much. But this cast is first rate.
Oh, and if I come back after I die, I want to come back as Ryan Gosling. He is ridiculous. Smoothest cat I’ve seen on screen in a very long time.
I may have liked it a smidge more than Keith ^, but I agree with almost everything he said.