by Jesus Ibarra

Special coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatre at the end of this review.

Crazy, Stupid, Love is all about what love does to people, and particularly when love can be painful, new, or unrequited. The great thing about this movie is that it isn’t a typical rom-com full of stupid clichés, but is actually quite realistic on its handle about love.

The story follows three plotlines that come together in a crazy unexpected twist, but it is satisfying nonetheless. First, we have Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) whose marriage to Julianne Moore’s Emily comes apart when she confesses to cheating on him, and wanting a divorce. Although Cal is angry, he realizes that the dissolution of his marriage wasn’t completely his wife’s fault, because at some point he stopped trying. Steve Carell once again manages to play the down on his luck ordinary guy perfectly, and portrays Cal’s inability to actually do anything about his divorce except get drunk, amazingly well.

Then comes Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a cool smooth talking ladies man who takes pity on Cal, and decides to teach him a thing or two about picking up women. Jacob has his own problems when he actually starts to fall for a woman, Hannah (Emma Stone), who can see through his womanizing ways. Eventually Cal realizes he doesn’t want to be a womanizer, and just wants his wife back, that’s essentially the rest of the movie. Under all this, we get to see the young side of infatuation through Cal’s thirteen-year-old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) who is in love with his babysitter, who in turn harbors a crush on Robbie’s father.

I wanted to see this movie because I knew there must have been something more than a typical romantic comedy that drew all the great actors that I love to it. It didn’t fall to clichés, and the performances were also fantastic. The blending of drama, comedy, and romantic moments was done amazingly well. So much so that at two points in the movie I thought it was going to end on a totally depressing note, but it didn’t. This movie was a sweet, poignant take on what love does to people. Instead of falling victim to cliché endings, it ends on a hopeful one which seemed to fit this film perfectly.

Rated PG-13 for coarse humor, sexual content and language

Crazy, Stupid, Love is now playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes can be found on their website.

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Jesus Ibarra is 19 years old and an ongoing contributor to our Teen Talk section; with a love of all media, he’s always on the lookout for the best finds.