Crazy, Stupid, Love.

          So far on this blog I think it's safe to say that I have reviewed a fair amount of romantic comedies, especially lately. But then again, I think that term is thrown around too loosely sometimes, or used too technically. I've done it myself. For example, when you talk about Wedding Crashers are you saying its a comedy or a romantic comedy. My bet is most people say comedy. I do, but if you wanted to get technical you should label it the latter. Any who, my point is that when the term romantic comedy is used, most people expect some cheap, cheesy, gimmicky movie starring Hugh Grant or Katherine Heigl, that in all honesty is probably a chick flick. However, every now and then a movie comes along that fits the title of its genre, but does not go by its specifications. Crazy, Stupid, Love is one of those.
           Crazy, Stupid, Love is about....well...love. DUH! It's about first loves, lost loves, new loves, and everything in between. This movie follows many different people that all become connected in some way, but mainly around Cal and Emily Weaver, played by Steve Carell (Despicable Me) and Julianne Moore (Chloe). They're married high school sweet hearts and the movie opens on them at dinner. It's quite obvious the two have fell in a rut, but no more than a couple minutes into the movie does Emily drop a bombshell. She wants a divorce and has slept with a coworker named David Lindhagen, played by Kevin Bacon (X-Men: First Class).
          At this point Cal is quite depressed as expected, and begins going to the same bar every night where he drinks heavily and complains about his life. Here he meets womanizing, smooth talking, playboy Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling of All Good Things) who vows to take Cal under his wing and show him how to pick up women and get him over his ex-wife. All the while, Jacob had his advances spurned just a tad earlier in the film by an attractive young woman named Hannah (Emma Stone of Easy A) who seemed to have really caught his eye. From here we watch as Jacob helps transform and revitalize Cal into a new found image and persona. But through it all Cal still suffers as he goes through his divorce and deals with not only his longing love for Emily, but his son's love issues as well.
          Though this story focuses centrally around Cal and Emily and their relationship, everyone else involved has their own love and relationship to figure out too. It's how all of these people intertwine with each other and connect in some way that makes this story so good. It's really quite clever how the writers were able to put it all together and that just adds onto how funny the movie is. The trailer is loaded with laughs, but those aren't the only ones in there. Steve Carell is hilarious as usual and Ryan Gosling portrays his character perfectly. It's an all around great effort by a superb ensemble cast and everyone gets in on the laughs. Though my favorite line might be one by Cal midway through the movie, where right as you think the movie is falling into a gimmicky cliche, he drops a line that totally calls the movie on it and makes fun of itself; and as you all know I love when a film is able to do that.
           In reference to the ensemble cast, I do not want to leave out Marisa Tomei (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Kevin Bacon's characters. Though not seen much, they both make the most out their short screen time. Tomei is hysterical and perfect as a slightly crazy hookup of Cal's that comes back to haunt him, and Bacon is funny as Emily's moving to fast boyfriend who is quite frankly, just a douche.
          Overall, this movie had everything one good ask for. It appeals to a mass audience and both genders. It's funny, touching, clever, and provides a few unexpected twists to keep the viewer quite entertained. Plus, it's not overly long with running time of 1 hour and 58 minutes.
           I give this movie a thumbs up and 3.5 out of 4 stars. If you haven't seen it, do so. It's a great date movie. If you have seen it, see it again. Heck, I'll probably go buy it. As you could guess this movie is out on DVD and Blu-Ray and is also available at your local Redbox. Enjoy!

Editor's Note:  As I said in my previous post from this point until the Oscars I will be more than likely only posting reviews of Best Picture nominated films, though who knows something else could slip in. My next review will be on the nominated Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris, starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams.

Chloe

            Chloe is normally just an innocent girls name. Not in this review however. Today I am reviewing the movie Chloe. This is an independently made, R rated, erotic thriller that stars Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried in the title role.  The movie was released almost a year ago to date.
             The film's plot revolves around Julianne Moore's character Catherine. Catherine suspects her husband David (Liam Neeson) is cheating on her after he suspiciously misses his flight home and thus misses the surprise birthday party she had planned and spent thousands of dollars on for him. In turn she hires Chloe, an escort, to attempt to seduce her husband to try and see if her suspicions have validity to them. Sounds like just a bullet proof plan right? Obviously not, and of course the plan isn't as straight forward as it seems.
             Catherine and David's relationship hasn't been the best of late and her relationship with her son is almost completely non-existent unlike that of David's with him. As she puts Chloe out there as bait for David she gets consistent updates of the "progress" that is happening. The more news she receives from Chloe the more unstable Catherine seems to become, as well as becoming more attracted to Chloe as well. This all leads up to an unexpected passionate love scene between the two. Once here Catherine is done with Chloe services and wants to move on with her life, but of course that's not so easy as this is where the most suspense and thrill happens.
              The movie was good in the sense it lived up to its genre. It was suspenseful and a bit thrilling, but what disappointed me most was the plot didn't keep me from figuring it out before the end. Which once it all came together was very anticlimactic for me. Julianne Moore does a good job being completely all over the place in this movie, and Amanda Seyfried does very well at portraying the unbalanced seductive character that Chloe is. It's a bit of a shame Liam Neeson wasn't in the movie a bit more or had more of a challenging role.
              Overall, I have to give the movie a thumb in the middle and two stars. Don't let this discourage you from seeing it however. If you're unable to figure out the plot twist then this will be much more entertaining then I'm giving it credit for. I would recommend streaming it through Netflix or using Redbox for it though and not paying more expensive onDemand fees. On a final little side note the Canadian indie rock band Raised by Swans is featured heavily in this movie and I enjoyed their music. So keep an ear out for that.

I don't have my next review planned at the moment so feel free to leave a comment with some suggestions.

A Single Man

           Today's review is coming in a bit late, but it's here so that's all that matters. I had the pleasure of viewing "A Single Man" the other night. I had heard plenty of good review going in, but didn't really know what it was about. Well first off, the reviews were correct because the movie is quite good. The movie stars Colin Firth (The King's Speech) as George, an English professor who is still trying to cope with the sudden death of his partner one year after it happened. Julianne Moore (The Kids Are Alright) costars as his longtime friend and neighbor, Charley, from England.
            Like I said I wasn't sure what to expect going into this movie at all and was quite surprised what the plot ended up being, but in a good way. The plot not only circled with a man losing the love of his life and him trying to deal with it, but with a situation that you rarely see addressed in those times. That is of course homosexuality. Now granted I was no where near alive in the 60s, but it's quite common knowledge that being openly gay back then was not very common or as openly accepted as it is today. Many people I believe either denied it or led secret lives. The movie deals with this aspect of the story very well as it gives the viewers, what I believe to be, a very honest look into how lives for homosexual couples back then must have been and felt like.
             The story guides you through a couple days of George's life and in doing so flashes back to various stages of George's relationship with his partner Jim, a much younger man, played by Matthew Goode (The Watchmen). The couple are in a sense are quite open about their relationship as they live in the LA suburbs in a house together. As George tries to deal with the agony of his loss, he finds himself questioning why things happen the way they do, and along the way ends up making an unlikely connection with one of his students named Kenny, played by Nicholas Hoult (About A Boy). This connection helps guide George through the troubles in his life and hopefully, in time, back to a place where he can find happiness once again.
             All around the acting in this film is quite good. Colin Firth does a superb job portraying his character George and rightfully earned himself an Oscar nomination last year for Best Actor.  I thought Julianne Moore did a good job at making herself a believable English woman, as well as a woman who is just as lost as George, in the limited screen time that she does have. Matthew Goode is excellent portraying the younger partner that seems to be more open and loose about their relationship. And Nicholas Hoult plays his character well as the somewhat odd student trying to find some of his own guidance.
             Overall, this movie was in my opinion excellent. The plot was unique, original, and very honest and real. I definitely give it a thumbs up and three and a half stars out of four. It was snubbed for a Best Picture nomination in my opinion. So go see it!