Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Romantic comedies are an incredibly difficult genre to wring any originality from. It has a tried and tested formula and one in which almost every single film of this nature follows to a tee. Which means that, to a certain degree, a romantic comedy is completely hamstrung by it's genre before it has even begun; there will never be any surprises in store for the audience. Well very refreshingly, Crazy, Stupid, Love approaches the genre from a very real and surprising place. For once, a romantic comedy has it's fair share of originality and twists that does wonders for the story. Led by the directors of last years uber-unconventional and very rude I Love You, Philip Morris, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, seem to have carved out a nice original niche in genre films. This films surprise factor plays a huge part in why the film works as well as it does. However, when a film is this tightly written and performed with spark by a great cast then any stale notions of what the genre might entail are swiftly forgotten. Love, it seems can drive people to do the most irrational of things. The most confusing and yet common emotion, the film rather smartly explores variations on the theme. Unrequited teenage lust, stale marriage woes and those first exciting springs of discovery in someone new are all smartly woven throughout the story. As a result, the film is most certainly romantic, but not in erring to the overly sentimental side of things. Unsurprisingly, sex has a huge part to play in connections with others. Steve Carell stars as Cal, a 40-something going through a very painful divorce with his wife, Julianne Moore. Frustrated by love and hamstrung by a very nerdish demeanor, professional womaniser Jacob (Ryan Gosling) takes him under his wing to help teach him the ways of the mysterious woman. So what follows is a Hitch of sorts, with plenty of comedic material being derived from Cal's unfortunate adventures in this strange new world. Of course, things are not as simple as that, and the film has plenty of more tricks up it's sleeve throughout. Led by a smart, sassy and sexy script, characters are subtly developed so that while certain motivations for things might not be initially obvious, the more time we spend with these people, the more we understand about them. Wisely the film does not spoon feed the audience, but rather let's it's characters naturally progress onto events and earn the confusion, emotion and comedy that the film does so well. The only thing that the film let's itself down in, in fact, is a trite denonoument that trips over all the cliches and conventions it had smartly avoided for most of it's running time. It's not enough to derail the film, but it does leave a bad after taste when everything before was so much stronger. Overall, the film is a refreshing success. There was plenty of potential pitfalls throughout but for the most part, the film is an entertaining, witty and smart take on an otherwise stale genre. It also has the best scene set on a lawn you will see this year.

Verdict: 7/10
Apart from a disappointingly mundane and cheesy ending, the film offers plenty to say on the reality of love and sex and everything in between. A tight script effortlessly interweaves through a fantastic cast and the film has a fresh take on romance than is usual for a film of this type. Who says romance is dead?

"Crazy, Stupid, Love." Trailer

She's Out Of My League

Another month, another romantic comedy that strives to be relatable to both genders; crude jokes for him, moral, sweet center for her. It's only a pity that we have seen this movie a million times before, and done much better too. Kirk (Jay Baruchel) is our hapless hero. He is an underachiever with very low self esteem. It is in working at his job at airport security that he meets Molly (Alice Eve), a beautiful, sucessful, 'hottie'. She drops her phone, he finds it and the two connect, despite the fact that Kirk thinks they might only be friends. So imagine his surprise when Molly, asks him out on a date. Kirk can't believe his good fortune. However, with all his friends and family watching him and waiting for him to fail, can he manage to keep the relationship on track without screwing it up? The films main selling point, is that apparantly we all fall into a very basic and very shallow rating scheme based almost entirely on looks. In this film Kirk is a '5', while the delectable Molly is a '10'. The main question here is how can a '10' and a '5' ever be together?

As with almost all of romantic comedies, it won't take a genius to figure out how it will all turn out. So, if the film is ever expected to be sucessful and connect with audiences, it must have at least decent jokes and relatable characters. Unfortunately this film has neither of these. Jay Baruchel, making his way from supporting to leading man here, was usually quite decent and watchable in previous efforts. Here seems to think that acting flustered and mixing up his words counts for comedic gold. It doesn't help that he is supported by a very forgettable gang of friends. Each one, while slightly likeable and retaining a seperate sense of identity from each other struggles to find any laughs in the mix. T.J. Miller obviously is the friend that they put forward as the 'one to watch for the future'. Looking like Napolean Dynamite and spewing out lines with the timing of Ryan Reynolds, he provides most of the comedic moments and is supposed to be the 'show stealer' in the same way that Zach Galfianakis was in 'The Hangover'. Unfortunately, he is given some very weak lines to play off and leaves next to no mark on proceedings. Alice Eve plays the aforementioned '10' in the film. She is left with a male fantasy of a role; completely unrealistic and very one dimensional. She gamely tries to inject some personality into it, which on some accounts she suceeds in, but is hampered by the script again.

It seems the writers Sean Anders and John Morris want something we can relate to, and yet the film becomes more cartoonish as it goes on. It is, as stated earlier, a complete male fantasy of a film. It becomes so unrealistic and by the end you wonder how could Baruchel and Eve ever get together in real life? Unfortunately, this is not for the reasons the film attempts to exemplify. Yes, the two are almost polar opposites as far as looks go, but they also have near to no chemistry together. They simply do not fit. And when are the studios going to make an 'ugly duckling' girl getting the man of her dreams in a hilarious romantic comedy? Or is that just too forward thinking that audiences just aren't ready for yet?! Films like 'Knocked Up' and 'There's Something About Mary' have done themes like these before, all to far better and funnier effect. This formula is just too tired. Especially with a script like this. So while undemanding audiences might get a chuckle or two out of it, this was simply too familiar and unoriginal to register in my mind. It is an innofensive romantic comedy at heart and does strive for your affections oh so very hard, but has to try far harder when attempting to make material like this seem fresh. You know when a film has to rely on the music of James Morrison to register depth and emotion, there is something gone astray.

Verdict: 38%

A game cast try and make all too familiar territory seem fresh and original. Unfortunately there is next to no laughs to be found and the films main message is extremely shallow and silly. Jokes go no where and it grows more unrealistic and far fetched as it wears on. Poor effort from all involved. Mainly because you get the sense that they could all be capable of a lot more.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQ49gh7sTg