LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
A Lonely Man's Still Love, Whose Beating Heart Awakens A Quiet City
The PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "Lars And The Real Girl"
By Omar P.L. Moore/October 19, 2007
Craig Gillespie's great comedy-drama gets better as it goes
along, and Ryan Gosling turns to comedy after a steady diet of intense films, in
"Lars And The Real Girl", an endearing slice of celluloid entertainment.
Laughs and chuckles for the film's first hour soon dissolve into an absorbing
tale of a lonely man Lars (Mr. Gosling) who finds happiness and companionship in
the arms of Bianca, a mannequin blow-up doll, who is modeled somewhat like
Bianca Jagger, both in looks, and in a description that one of the characters
gives.
Lars lives across the way from his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and Karin (Emily
Mortimer), a married couple who are called upon to accommodate the new and
static love in Lars's life. The way they do so is comical, and slowly but
surely their suspension of disbelief changes. The film is touching in
several ways, notably in Mr. Gosling's performance and in that of Patricia
Clarkson as psychologist and medical doctor Dagmar. "Lars And The Real
Girl" is appealing and thought-provoking as it challenges the ideas of what love
is and what beauty is in America, Canada or elsewhere, and how society responds
to these ideas. One of the most powerful ways to investigate such
questions is to deftly insert them in a satirical manner, and Nancy Oliver's
script does this ever so well, pulling off a terrific end run on itself.
Not only are Lars and Bianca seen as an odd couple, they are also shown as a
couple whose love -- even if unrequited -- is always sincere. (Most
shrewdly, Bianca is always smiling - instead of possessing the frown that is
etched upon most store mannequin's faces.) Last year, a film from
Australia spotlighted an invisible imaginary friend of a young girl, and while
the acting there was a challenge, the acting in "Lars" is even more so, since
the performers have to interact with an inanimate object that is central to the
narrative knowing that the object isn't real.
Billy Joel may have sung "She's Always A Woman To Me", years ago, but one will
be forgiven if Lars were to borrow the song for himself. Instead, Mr.
Gosling's character sings Nat King Cole's classic "L-O-V-E". He is in the
trees and over the moon for Bianca, and we too are over the moon, for Mr.
Gillespie's sweetly sublime film, which opened today across the U.S. and Canada.
"Lars And The Real Girl" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture
Association of America for some sex-related content. The film's running
time is one hour and 46 minutes.
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