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REVIEW: Crazy, Stupid, Love

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Crazy, Stupid, Love is a rock solid romantic comedy. It’s a simple story of the tangled webs of love and hardships of a relationship told by a remarkable cast. Honestly, the storyline is nothing special, mashing together a bunch of played out and cheesy plots into one convoluted anecdote. However, the emotional range and incredible talent of the entire cast makes it something special. We already know Julianne Moore is one of the greatest actresses of present day and her performance in this movie differs no less from her excellent previous roles but Steve Carell does an amazing job proving to the world that he can break out of comedy and take on serious characters.

“Fight for your soul mate” is the premise of this tale. It follows a couple couples (hah) and the ups and downs of their relationships. What do you do when your wife, the only girl you’ve ever loved since middle school, has an affair with David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon) and decides she wants a divorce? How about falling out of a moving car? Steve Carell as Cal pretty much gives up and moves out of his house and marriage with Emily (Julianne Moore). He meets Jacob (Ryan Gosling) who is a womanizing playa playa and teaches Cal the ropes on how to pick up women at bars with “miagi”. Cal can’t get over his wife and kids, but to quit sulking and start living life again he begins to take Jacob’s advice starting with picking up Marisa Tomei who is hilariously insane in this movie!

Great shot of Steve Carell and Juliane Moore divided

Emma Stone is Hannah and she gets hit on by a hot guy at the bar. She doesn’t play his game at first but her friend keeps advising her that she should have sex with him and obvioulsy it doesn’t take too long because they’re in the movie poster together! The hot guy that hit on her at the bar reminds her that his name is Jacob…yes, the same Ryan Gosling Jacob giving Cal advice with photoshoped abs. I think half the girls are going to go this movie just for that scene. But don’t worry! That scene is actually my favorite part of the movie with Jacob’s Dirty Dancing “big move” – it’s hilarious! Emma Stone has perfected her adorable awkward quirks and this character allows her to do it once again. Together, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling create an enjoyable side story to coincide with Steve Carell and Julianne Moore.

The adorable, I'm sorry - R-Rated sexy Emma Stone and photoshoped Ryan Gosling

But wait, there’s more! Cal’s 13 year-old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) is in love with his 17 year-old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton) who in turn has a crush on Robbie’s Dad Cal! Again, bad relationship advice is at the heart of this love chain. Robbie embarrasses Jessica at school and Jessica embarrasses herself with her family. You can only imagine what happens when Jessica’s father (John Carroll Lynch) finds out she’s in love with the man she’s babysitting for (Cal). Do you get the theme of this movie yet? It’s all about people going after their one true love, or whoever they think that is, and listening to other’s advice rather than their own hearts. Again, typical rom com story, but told in an excellent way.

Steve Carell taking relationship advice from Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love

With love and movies, actions speak louder than words and there’s no greater evidence than this film. The emotions that are conveyed by the actors are spot on. From facial expressions to the decisions they make and body language, you can really feel whats going on in each of the character’s minds and hearts. Girls, bring your tissues because you may need it a couple times. This is an amazing date movie and will only bring people closer together. The music is quite somber making the dramatic parts even more powerful which compliments the movie really well. For me, Crazy, Stupid, Love was more of a drama than a comedy but the structure of the movie is very formulaic and pretty typical as it packs the laughs in the beginning and gets more serious as the movie gets deeper into each relationship story. “What a cliche.” But once again, the performances are breathtaking and well worth it.

Tags: Analeigh Tipton, Crazy, Crazy Stupid Love, John Carroll Lynch, Jonah Bobo, Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Love, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Stupid
Posted in Reviews | 2 Comments »

REVIEW: Cyrus

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Cyrus Cyrus is an interesting story from the Duplass brothers about a guy down on his luck who finds the girl of his dreams. One problem, she’s really close to her only son…who’s 21 and still lives at home. Let’s back up a bit. We join John, played by John C. Reilly, as he continues to live his mundane single life after splitting with his ex-wife (Catherine Keener) seven years before. He’s still on good terms and pretty close to his ex-wife but she and her fiancé want him to get on with his own life and find somebody else. They invite him to a party which he reluctantly goes to and eventually makes an ass of himself in the process. But in the same night at the same party, he meets Molly, played by Marissa Tomei, and they hit it off right away…in a quirky way. The dialogue between them and throughout the movie is hilariously awkward. The only thing more awkward is Molly’s son Cyrus, played by Jonah Hill, and the relationship the mother and son have together.

John gets a little weirded out by what he observes in the relationship between Molly and her son so he gets his ex-wife to scope them out for him and give him her honest opinion. She approves Cyrus and Molly and thinks that they’re a great fit for John. Cyrus also approves John for his mother so they try to make it all work. However, all is not what it seems with Cyrus.

Cyrus (Jonah Hill) and his mom (Marisa Tomei) meeting John (John C. Reilly) and his ex-wife (Catherine Keener) in the park

The movie starts off really funny and keeps that upbeat awkward tone for quite a while. But a little after halfway through the film, the whole mood of the movie shifts to be serious…really serious. It almost hits you like a brick wall. You go from joking with the characters to watching their lives from a third party view. The shift was a little too much for me and almost made me feel like I was watching two separate movie. I wanted to go back to the first movie, but it was too late…the Duplass brothers were taking me on another path to try and connect to the characters on a different level.

John (John C. Reilly) talking to Cyrus (Jonah Hill)

All of the cast deliver incredible performances which make this movie work. Cyrus not only tricks the characters in the movie but he has to trick the audience too to make us wonder if John is just being paranoid or if Cyrus really does approve of him to be with his mom. Molly isn’t just overprotective of her only son, but Cyrus is overprotective of his only mom too. It’s an interesting chemistry between this weird love triangle (I know it’s wrong to put it that way since two sides of this triangle is mother and son – but it’s as awkward as this movie makes it, trust me). This film fell a little short for me because of the significant switch and ending. The first half was a great experience with these hilarious characters…the second half was too dull and depressing.

This post is part of our SXSW Film Festival coverage
The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW® is the premier destination for discovery. The internationally acclaimed, nine-day Film Festival celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent, with a truly diverse program ranging from provocative documentaries to subversive Hollywood comedies.Visit South by Southwest’s Official Website

Tags: Catherine Keener, Cyrus, John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, South By Southwest, SXSW
Posted in Film Festivals and Conventions, Reviews, South By Southwest 2010 | 1 Comment »

My South By Southwest Film Plan

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Right now I’m on my flight from San Francisco to Austin, TX. It was delayed an hour which gave me even more time to finally read through the films that will be screened at South By Southwest and try to plot a plan of which films I’ll be watching. I love film festivals, you can jump from film to film and see a month’s worth of movies in a week (sometimes even 2 months!). I love figuring out the logistics of which movies are must see, which ones are only being shown once or twice, and which films I should skip to catch up with old friends or catch some of the music shows at this festival. Needless to say, it’ll be intense!

Day 1
Totally missed. I flew into Austin on the first day of the festival so I’ll be missing the opening film which was my most anticipated film…Kick-Ass. I’ll just have to catch it with everyone else or hopefully catch an advance screening in San Francisco (wink wink Lionsgate Films).

Day 2
If I wake up early enough, I’ll try and catch The Freebie, a film about a young couple who gives each other a free night with someone else.

Mars – an animated romantic comedy about astronauts and robots travelling towards the red planet. I want to know if the astronauts and robots fall in love with each other or stick to their own.

Cyrus The Duplass brothers comedy starring John C. Reily, Marisa Tomei, and Jonah Hill. John C. Reily’s character hooks up with the ridiculously hot Molly (Marisa Tomei) who has an adult son (Johnah Hill). Kind of sounds like a sequel to Stepbrothers..we’ll see.

There’s also a Super Secret screening…we’ll see if it’s worth going to.

Day 3
I think I’ll take the beginning of the day to attend panels and hang out with my interactive festival friends (I am a developer at heart). Also, Facebook is having a developer’s garage so I’ll attend that and hopefully code some great stuff for the facebook users of advancescreenings.com.

The movies of the day will either be Mr. Nice, a true story about Britain’s most wanted man, or Pelada, the other side of soccer and either Futurestates, which seems to be a collection of short stories about different economic scenarios, or The Parking Lot Movie – the title is exactly what it sounds like. So many options!

Day 4
If I didn’t get to catch Pelada (the soccer movie) I could catch it this morning. Followed by Tiny Furniture and Canal Street Madam or American: Bill Hicks. Tiny Furniture is a tragicomedy about a 22-year-old who comes home from college just as she went in – with no skills, no love life, and a lot of free time. Canal Street Madam is about Jeanette Maier trying to re-invent herself after her infamous family-run brothel is raided by the FBI. American: Bill Hicks is an animated film about the true life story of the outlaw comic who tried to save the world. The highlight of this night is MacGruber, yes a full length movie of the SNL sketch staring Will Forte.

Day 5
One of the movies that I missed on the first day is showing again today. It’s called Erasing David and sounds very interesting and very fitting for this interactive/film festival. Filmmaker David Bond disappears for a month and hires two of the world’s top private investigators to track him down using only publicly available data. Sad to say, it conflicts with a film called Like a Pascha about the largest brothel in Europe…Canal Street Madam is playing again and then the highlight is Harry Brown starring Michael Caine.

Day 6
I’ll start off this film with another one I missed on the first day, World’s Largest. It’s about all those weird roadside attractions you see in tiny towns while driving cross country. If I can squeeze it in, I’ll see Cherry, a film about a virgin who drops out of college and encounters an older woman and her underage daughter, before the film of the night, Get Low starring Robert Duvall and Bill Murray.

Day 7
To be honest, I’m excited to check out Austin Carniville which is March 18, 19, and 20 (Day 7, 8, and 9). Luckily, the films during the day don’t intrigue me too much. The movie of the night is The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, I’ll either catch that or Mars and Like a Pascha.

Day 8
I can catch a bunch of films today in case I missed them earlier in the week including Canal Street Madam, The Parking Lot Movie, Pelada, and Mars…or go to the Carniville again .

Day 9
THE FINAL DAY!, World’s Largest plays again as well as Hood to Coast, Tiny Furniture, and American Bill Hicks.

That’s the plan…let’s see what actually happens!