Not so Crazy, Not so Stupid

Editorial

Last week, my partner and I went off to a red carpet premiere screening and cocktail party for the new comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love. The star Steve Carell and the co-directors, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (the guys responsible for I Love You, Phillip Morris) were there, and while we didn’t get to meet any other them, we did pass behind Mr Carell as he was on the red carpet caught in the glare of TV cameras. They also introduced the film, and all three came across as unpretentious and charming. Which was nice to see from Hollywood players.

To be honest, we weren’t expecting much (see my previous blog about promotional tours). The film is a comedy about a man (Steve Carell) whose wife (Julianne Moore) wants a divorce, and the young, very buff rake (Ryan Gosling) who coaches Carell in the ways of style and seduction.

On a completely superficial level, we were going because of the promise of Ryan Gosling, naked.

Yes, I won’t beat around the bush: the Ryan Gosling Perve Factor was high on this film, for good reason. He’s clearly toned and tanned his body to perfection for this role – there’s even a great line where Emma Stone says of his bare torso: “Seriously? You look like you’re photoshopped!”

So we were expecting yet another dumb, gross-out comedy with plenty of goofball-tries-to-be-hot gags. What we got was a clever, sharp comedy filled with witty lines, an unexpected curve-ball, and not just one story, but four intersecting stories with a lot to say about the nature of love and relationships. Yes, we were surprised. Pleasantly. Thank goodness.

Of course, I realised we’d done Crazy, Stupid, Love a disservice. We’d decided what it was going to be, and how we were going to respond to it even before we entered the cinema. Maybe that’s just the cynic in me, wary of over-promotion and nice little goodie bags on cinema seats, but this was one circumstance where I was glad to be proved wrong.

Looking back at its credentials, I should have known better. Steve Carell is always good to watch, even when he’s being stupid; he’s smarter than Adam Sandler and better looking than Will Ferrell. Julianne Moore also almost always provides a good performance. And Gosling’s a good actor, as Lars and the Real Girl demonstrates. In fact everyone involved is consistently good. Why then did we doubt?

Probably because we’re so often served up limp and lukewarm comedies that we’ve been conditioned not to expect much from them. Hollywood has a lot to answer for there. In the meantime, let’s celebrate when we do get a mainstream film of this calibre. Because we might not get another one for some time...

Tim Hunter, Citysearch