Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) is a weird guy, having in a shack next to his brother's house, he interacts little or not at all with anyone. At home he is awkward, at work he is annoying, and despite everyone's best efforts he simply does not seem to want to be part of this world. On the plus side Lars is a good man, a God fearing man who shows worship in church regally, and is generally appreciated in town as the one man not likely to fall off the rails, from a citizen perspective he is the ideal small town inhabitant. Gus (Paul Schneider)the brother and his wife Karin (Emily Mortimer) desperately try to get Lars involved in things, but seem to fail unsuccessfully.
One day something catches Lars eye on the internet, and before long he is talking about a love interest called Bianca, who might be coming to stay for a while. A foreigner Bianca has strong religious beliefs and as a result would need to stay in Gus and Karin's house. The second issue is that she speaks no English, and is disabled. Thoughts of those around immediately draw them to the conclusion that Lars has either met someone online or bought himself a mail order bride. What nobody however expected was that Bianca is an inflatable sex doll.
Ever the one to be different, while the critics rave about Lars And The Real Girl I was quite frankly disappointed, I found it not to be the touching comedy that nearly everyone reviewing the movie stated, instead I thought the movie was dull, a little lifeless and not necessarily the best way to pass time. You often have to question your sanity a bit when everyone else raves about a movie and you view it as being a fairly lacklustre event. What does everyone else see that I do not? I won't deny that the concept of the movie is very good, enhanced by the fact that EVERYONE thinks Lars is going through some sort of breakdown and as a result accepts that Bianca is real and pretty much goes along with his whole story. But beyond that line I just could not get into the movie.
The performances were very good, Gosling as Lars gives off the right level of creepy nerd style character that this sort of movie demands. Emily Mortimer is charming as the heavily pregnant and loving sister in law, the one person who gets everyone to support the whole Lars and Bianca affair. Kelli Garner is charming as Margo, the one person that really sees beneath Lars cold exterior and obviously is in love with him. While Patricia Clarkson the one exception in my view of the "good" performances turns out the usual anally retentive performance she always does, how can one actress play the same character so many times?
The location for the movie is wintery and charming, the sort of community you would love to grow up in; with the sort of people you would love to be surrounded by. Kind of dated, but still very much with the rest of the world, the timeless nature of the filming actually makes you realise that if the internet was not referenced on numerous occasions the movie could very well be set in the 1970's or 1980's.
I never laughed at Lars And The Real Girl once, and come to think of it even got close, not even generating a smile. Neither was I touched by the movie, it was just one of those movies that passed the time but failed to stimulate me in anyway shape or form. It is not a bad film, but neither is it a good one; it's very much a non-entity. Someone implied in conversation that maybe I never got the complexities of the story, but this is not The Matrix, there are no grey areas, its either this or that and for my money it's not something I'd be happy to have to endure again.
Lars And The Real Girl is in cinemas from the 21st of March, take my advice wait for the DVD.
Spencer Hawken 03/08
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2000 - Drama - Director: Giuseppe Tornatore - Original Language: Italian - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
Lars And The Real Girl stars Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom a loveable introvert whose ... more
emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of lonely solityude Lars invites Bianca a friend he met on the internet to visit him in hi...
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Advantages: Interesting characters, good enough performances, quite touching in parts Disadvantages: Wont appeal to everyone, may seem slow pace wise to some, also its not really a comedy as such
Mar 6th, 2008
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