Crazy, Stupid, Love

Ryan Gosling takes off his shirt. That's all you need to know. 

Crazy, Stupid, Love is directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (I Love You Phillip Morris) and written by Dan Fogelman (Tangled).

Cal (Steve Carell - Date Night) wants crème brûlée for desert. His wife Emily (Julianne Moore - The Kids Are Alright) wants a divorce. Awkward! Turns out she has been having an affair with fellow accountant David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon - X-Men: First Class). Cal jumps out of a moving car.

Cal starts frequenting a local bar and meets Jacob (Ryan Gosling - Drive) who has a way with the ladies. Every night he takes home a different girl. Jacob takes Cal under his wing and before you can say My Fair Lady, Cal has a new look and some smooth pick-up lines and picks up Kate (Marisa Tomei - The Lincoln Lawyer).

At home, Cal's thirteen year-old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo - Zathura) is head-over-heels in love with babysitter and seventeen year-old Jessica (Analeigh Tipton - The Green Hornet). The feeling is not mutual, Jess has a crush on Cal. Double awkward.

On a side note, Hannah (Emma Stone - Friends With Benefits), who wants to have Conan O'Brien's babies, ain't too happy when boyfriend Richard (Josh Groban - all his songs) doesn't propose to her. She goes out to a bar... Story lines intertwine as we learn about how the characters lives are connected, a few overlap in inopportune ways. 

There were good and bad things about this film. Good things were it was funny, warm, Marisa Tomei effing rocks, Emma Stone delivers yet again. Bad things were mainly pacing issues. A bit draggy here, it felt like it ran longer than the two hours, some characters wouldn't be on screen for large chunks so I'd start to miss them.

It also felt like someone had taken a bit from a whole range of movies and popped them in the one film; My Fair Lady, Clueless, Hitch... still, it was enjoyable and I had a few good laughs. Even though it felt like he was being held back a bit, Carell is such a funny guy and Gosling has nice abs. What more could a girl what? The soundtrack was pretty cool, lots of 80s classics. I so want to see Julianne Moore do some more comedies, she was great.

Things I learnt: be better than the Gap; Ryan Gosling is now my favourite Ryan (sorry Reynolds) (hurry up and do Deadpool!); everyone in The Scarlett Letter is an arsehole.

Fluffy but also funny.
Seven out of ten