This is the most effective and most philosophically-savvy romantic comedy in recent years. Crazy Stupid Love is a wonderful hodgepodge of normal everyday people trying to understand their feelings. Emotions like these are the bane as well as the exuberance of one’s existence, so it is no wonder that people will spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to sort through them.
At the head of the cast is Steve Carell playing his signature father-figure role. His character faces an impending divorce with Julianne Moore, and on top of that, he is trying to deal with the discovery of Moore’s character being unfaithful. Their son is hopelessly in love with the babysitter, and other seemingly unrelated characters are also going through trials and tribulations. In the mix of this, there is a man unaffected by these feelings. He is a “player” played by an olive-oil-esque Ryan Gosling that decides to take Carell under his wing in order to help him ‘possibly’ forget his wife. At the same time, Emma Stone plays a content girlfriend with hopes that her dorky lawyer boyfriend will propose to her. The whole film is riddled with romantic gestures and courageous hopes. Some of the best moments come when characters are confronted with extremely awkward situations that they must escape using better judgment.
Despite their downs, all the characters manage to eventually follow their hearts and use their minds to make the right decisions. A very poignant scene occurs when Steve Carell is playing catch with his son. The young teen exclaims, “This girl. She’s incredible. She’s my soulmate, but she doesn’t even care.” Carell expounds on the point, “But she’s your soulmate, right?... Then don’t give up on her.” That is the entire theme of the film. Whether they are your apparent soulmate or not, no one should ever give up on any person that is worthwhile.
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