Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Such a stellar constellation, and such a shallow result. What does it matter that actors like Carell, Moore, Emma Stone or the new hearthrob Ryan Gosling shine in front of the camera, when they are part of a script so naive and shallow that it was impossible to ignore. The three romantic storylines fit together beautifully and the first face-to-face meeting of all the characters raises the film to a slightly higher level, but with the exception of Gosling's affair, the stories are not very interesting, in some respects they’re downright far-fetched (I would have shot that little boy), and also blindly predictable until the final reconciliatory happy ending. I don't want to criticize too much, because this comedy certainly doesn't deserve it, but as much as I was looking forward to and expecting an American version of Love Actually, in the end I had to put up with just another routine movie that was neither very funny nor original. 70% (2013-03-15)

For three quarters of its run I was really thrilled with Crazy, Stupid, Love, but that clichéd happy ending made me lose that feeling very quickly. Carell, Gosling, Moore, et al. are fantastic, I had no problem liking everyone. It’s certainly a very nice film, but if you want to see a truly great one, turn it off after the “meeting in the garden” scene. (2011-10-25)

Love is a struggle. Even in a film essentially devoid of conflict. Romantic comedies about people losing and regaining certainties in life will always have a place in any era. We will always want to run away and naïvely believe. The second film by the directors of the imaginative I Love You Phillip Morris neither advances nor enriches the genre, but it does exactly what it outwardly promises to do – it delights the viewer. It is more delightful than other films in the same category. Thanks to the well-coordinated, likable actors, smooth transitions between farce and tragedy, ironic references to genre clichés (rain, the Dirty Dancing reference) and the unexpected revelation that retroactively justifies the seemingly weak connection between the various story lines (and doesn’t seem contrived, because it consists in cleverly working with, or rather concealing, information). Due to the interconnectedness of the individual motifs, the comedy isn’t tasteless (shameless photos elegantly resolve one of the storylines), nor is it silly in its utterly unrealistic ending. Crazy, Stupid, Love is simply proof that a fresh approach can be taken to a seemingly played-out genre without the necessity of going to extremes. 75% (2011-09-21)

Here, the entire plot of Hitch is just a prelude to a multilayered relationship collage combining romantic, comedic and dramatic elements. Though it follows a Hollywood template, it works skillfully with several characters whose love troubles are not completely clichéd and predictable. Thanks to this, and thanks to the casting of Ryan Gosling and Julianne Moore in the roles where you’d expect Adam Sandler and Salma Hayek, the film is not just another bland pot of mush. (2011-09-27)

I wonder why Steve Carell took on another almost identical role after the great Dan in Real Life? Why didn't the film end with a great confrontation in the garden and have to have that awful ending? Why did Ryan Gosling get on my nerves so much? Okay, I'll answer the last question myself right now, since I'm heterosexual, but the first two remain a mystery. Still, Crazy, Stupid, Love isn't a bad spectacle. It's just worse than the aforementioned film four years before. (2015-01-03)