Beyond Lars and the Real Girl

More from Ryan Gosling

Lars and the Real Girl Soundtrack

More Comedies from MGM

Stills from Lars and the Real Girl

Lars and the Real Girl

• Juno (Single-Disc Edition)
• The Savages
• There Will Be Blood
• 27 Dresses (Widescreen Edition)
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
• Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen)
• Atonement (Widescreen Edition)
• Death at a Funeral
• P.S. I Love You
• Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

This movie I thought was a comedy is actually something special, it is funny at times but its warm and shows how people can come together and show their love and support for a person in their community.

I have long hesitated to see this movie because its previews just seemed silly. When is this actor going to get an Oscar. And the way that the story unravels is just one reason more for anyone to really see and enjoy this movie. There were moments in the film that were funny, but the story is really about one man's subconscious mind trying to heal itself after decades of suppression. It will leave a lasting effect on you.

But Ryan Gosling's performance of the main character Lars is mesmerizing. What was very moving is that in this small town with very traditional people he finds the best support system ever to work out his issues. It is emotionally packed story about a young man who suddenly in the most unexpected way tries to resolve his deep emotional issues. Advertised as a comedy, I was not in rush to see a movie about a midwestern guy in love with a doll. But then I got the courage and I just LOVED this movie from start to finish.

You must see this movie. The entire cast on this film was fantastic. He is absolutely amazing.

It is simple and beautiful. A perfect little gem. From the outside it looks like the story of a man and a sex doll. WRONG. It is a touching story of a young man's crisis and the fantastical efforts a small town goes to in order to help him.

Knowing that, when I tell you this film's premise you will think I've officially gone off the deep end. There are a few scenes that stretch credulity even for a tale this fanciful but, generally speaking, if you're willing to buy into the premise, it can take you to a pretty nice place. A shipping crate arrives one day while Lars is at work and Karin casually calls Lars at work notify him. Terrified that Lars is psychotic, Karin and Gus devise a ruse to get Lars help. Lars speeds home to open it and that evening announces that he has a lady friend he's met online and that he'd like to bring her to dinner that night.

Later, Gus shrugs his brother's quirks off as "fine.". Lars is about a man who buys a "love doll" online and actually believes that she's a real woman. **END SPOILERS**. They suggest a routine examination for Bianca by their small town's lone physician - who doubles as psychologist. Although Gus has to be strong-armed at first, they eventually play along and soon the entire community follows suit in an effort to help Lars get better.

Lars (Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling doing a terrific job) is a nice guy and is extremely shy. She recommends strongly that they humor him until she can find out why. This is my other favorite film of 2007 (alongside Juno). He finds it physically painful to be touched by others and ignores both their repeated hints that he find a girl and the subtle advances of a gangly coworker (Kelli Garner). Got your attention. What follows is a thoughtful, charming, moving, and frequently understated Capraesque comedy that seldom goes for the cheap laugh. Although he works at his anonymous computer job each day and faithfully attends church, no one is aware of just how serious his condition has become in the past few months.

It gently reminds us not only of the lengths any of us may go to when we're hurting enough but also of what a family, a church, and a community can do for someone else in pain. His pregnant sister-in-law, Karin (Emily Mortimer, who actually drives the film), has suspicions, however, and since Lars lives in the converted garage behind their house, keeps unsuccessfully inviting him to have dinner with her and his brother, Gus (Paul Schneider). After interacting with Lars while she "diagnoses" Bianca, the doctor (Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson in a pitch-perfect performance) suggests to the couple that Lars has not had a complete break. Ecstatic that he's not only reaching out to them but has found romance, Karin and Gus spruce the house up and anxiously await the arrival of Lars' friend.

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS** (Although most is in the trailers). He also has severe emotional problems. Since Lars and Bianca are devout Christians and they don't want to give the impression of impropriety, he asks Gus and Karin if Bianca can stay in their house while she's in America.

In desperation, she finally tackles him in the driveway one night and insists he eat the salmon she's made. Good. Because even though that's the one-sentence description of the movie, it doesn't even begin to cover all that this movie is really about.

Lars explains that Bianca can't walk because she is paraplegic and can't speak English because she's a Brazilian missionary. Their hopes are dashed, however, when they meet Bianca - a life-sized, fully-articulated, silicone pleasure doll. He is delusional, however, and there must be some reason why his mind created the delusion to protect him.

There are so many movies I won't see. This movie was fun. :D. I got a sense of the actors here, all the cast, that if you met them in person, in reality they would be *real, kind people* who might not necessarily want to deal with crowds and autographs, but who would respond with class. People aren't tossing off unrealistic "one-liners" and trying so hard to be memorable and cool, as if the scriptwriter(s) were striving for quotes to make some list for posterity. I'm not necessarily big on "feel-good" movies (and don't care about happy endings), but I want movies that, vis-a-vis their own reality, treat their characters with dignity. And as one reviewer pointed out, this movie works REALLY well on the "meta-level," if you take it in an allegorical way. The people act real and natural; the situations are not real and natural but the cast makes them believable.

The movie plays in a real and natural way. We need a lot more like this. It's not mean-spirited, a huge plus. Lots of scenes that make it feel undecided whether you should laugh or cry. And I finally got to see Ryan Gosling in a movie, and now I see why "everyone's raving." I liked this entire cast, and hate to single anyone out, but I do love Patricia Clarkson's presence in films; I sometimes think she needs to be in every film., even if she just pops in at the credits and waves to the audience so they know she is still around. The actors themselves seem like real and good people, and it makes their characters seem real.