Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

I had intended to see this movie in the theater, and in fact I had lots of chances as it was in our local three dollar reel for a surprisingly long time. However I didn’t get around to it, attempts to see it in a group fell through, and well it seemed neither appropriate date material, or the kind of thing I’d like to see in a theater alone. Indeed given the circumstances I was probably right to wait and see it on DVD, but I’m certainly glade I’ve been able to see it now.

This is a great movie, moving, empathetic, funny, smart. With the premise of a man falling in love with a sex doll it sounds like a Farley brothers movie, but in truth the premise doesn’t capture the spirit of the film, which is really about loneliness, mental illness, friendship, and love. The script and the direction couldn’t have been better in terms of the balance of tone struck, and subtlety of plot and character development as a variety of influences help guide Lars through long neglected social and emotional development. All of the performances here are great, Ryan Gosling in the title part of course, he really inhabits this character, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson and new find Kelli Garner are three rather appealing ‘real girls’, but its Paul Schneider's performance as Lar’s brother Gus that is my favorite. His arc is perhaps an even tricker one for an actor to navigate then Lars’s, a man who at first feels himself something of a victim, forced to suffer through the potential embarrassment his brothers condition could bring into his life, refusing to accept that he bear even partial responsibility for the apparent breakdown of a brother he knows he has neglected. The characters gradual coming to terms with the way he abandoned his sibling, his sincere efforts to atone in his way, the genuine interest and concern he grows to express, its all very well done. Then there’s the whole Frank Capra element of the film, in the way the community rallies around Lars and accepts ‘Biannca’s’ presence because of their love for this awkward but good natured young man; the descriptive term ‘sweetheart’ used for Lars at several points in the film couldn’t be more accurate. I don’t think this film could have been done better, and how much more original could you expect a movie to be then Lars and the Real Girl. This will be on my list of best feature film’s I’ve seen this year. 5 out of 5.