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"Crazy, Stupid, Love." is a three-layer cake of a romantic comedy — rich, sweet and tasty, even if the frosting gets a little thick.
Love story No. 1 starts with Cal (played by Steve Carell), who is in romantic freefall. His wife of nearly 25 years, Emily (Julianne Moore), has unloaded a bombshell that she slept with a coworker (Kevin Bacon) and wants a divorce. He lands in a ritzy bar, where he watches a smooth player, Jacob (Ryan Gosling), work the room and pick up a string of beautiful women. Jacob takes pity on Cal, and gives him a GQ-level makeover that turns Cal into a pickup artist — with one of his first conquests being an insecure teacher (Marisa Tomei).
Love story No. 2 focuses on Hannah (Emma Stone), the one girl who's seemingly immune to Jacob's charms. But after Hannah gets fed up with her boring boyfriend (played by singer Josh Groban), she gives Jacob a try. Jacob, to his surprise, finds himself staring down the barrel of real commitment.
Love story No. 3 centers on Cal's 13-year-old son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), dealing with his first crush: His 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton). Jessica, however, harbors a secret crush of her own on Cal.
The script, by Dan Fogelman (whose credits include "Tangled" and both "Cars" films), is a tightly plotted rondelay of misunderstandings and missed opportunities. It treats love and heartbreak seriously, and for the most part doesn't take cheap shortcuts or turn either side — men or women — into villains or cartoons. (The exception may be Tomei's character, who is pigeonholed as the "crazy" one in the film.)
Even when it resorts to conventions, it tweaks them gently: In one scene, when a sad Cal gets caught in the rain, he ruefully remarks, "What a cliché."
Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (who collaborated on "I Love You, Phillip Morris") cast the action in a warm cinematic glow, and pace the surprises in Fogelman's script for maximum comic and dramatic effect. (There's a doozy of a twist around the 90-minute mark, and it leads to a masterfully farcical scene.)
The cast is uniformly charming. Moore captures the pain of a disintegrating marriage on her expressive face, and she's perfectly matched by the lovably nerdy Carell. Gosling shows a surprising comic flair as the super-cool Jacob — and he melts convincingly in the presence of Stone's sultry/smart Hannah, who cuts through Jacob's gamesmanship like a laser.
The romantic road of "Crazy, Stupid, Love." does gets a bit rocky at moments, particularly in the schmaltzy finale. But you're likely to fall in love with these characters, Cal and Hannah especially — and when you're in love, you're willing to forgive a few faults.
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'Crazy, Stupid, Love.'
Strong performances and a multi-layered script propel this comedy-drama of love on the rocks.
Where • Theaters everywhere
When • Opens today
Rating • PG-13 for coarse humor, sexual content and language
Running time • 118 minutes