"If there’s one thing you can guarantee on Valentines Day it’s that, with the vague possibility of sex on the menu, most men will ‘happily’ sit though one of their partner’s favourite rom-coms. It’s the only time of the year my other half will get me to watch the latest Sandra Bullock offering - I’ve even been known to dabble in the occasional S.J.P. chick flick from time to time. This year was different however, because this year she came home with Crazy Stupid Love. Forty something Cal Weaver (legend that is Steve Carell) is living the dream - good job, nice house, great kids and marriage to his high school sweetheart. Things take a turn for the worse when he learns that his wife (Julianne Moore) has been sleeping with a guy from the office (a criminally underused Kevin Bacon) and wants a divorce.
Soon enough Cal is taken under the wing of handsome, thirty-something player Jacob Palmer - a charismatic Ryan Gosling (shirt optional) who seems to be in everything these days. In an effort to help Cal get over his wife and start living again, he opens his eyes to the world of modern women, and he does it with hilarious results. Cal and his wife Emily aren't the only ones looking for love though. Cal's 13-year-old son, Robbie, is crazy in lust with his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica, who harbours a secret crush of her own on Cal. Add the ever reliable (and stunningly awesome) Emma Stone to the mix, as a disillusioned working girl keen to resist Jacob’s charms, and you have a recipe for the smartest, freshest, hippest comedy of the year. With added romance… imagine that.
Crazy Stupid Love avoids the usual pitfalls associated with romantic comedy, and yet lovingly embraces them all at the same time. The characters are key, coupled with a wonderfully witty script from scribe Dan Fogelman (Tangled). The final act does resort to your typical Hollywood style happy ever after - for the most part it plays much smarter than that - but the thing about Crazy Stupid Love is, it never stops being funny. For every cliché there’s a smart one liner, which is part of what makes it so irresistibly charming. There’s even a hilarious riff on Dirty Dancing, I mean really, what more could you ask for? Crazy Stupid Love might not sound like the most attractive proposition for men the world over, but come the final credits, you’ll be glad you said ‘I do’. A romantic comedy that even guys can cherish, films like this don’t come along very often, so embrace the love - the crazy stupid love that is." AW
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