Monday, April 21, 2008

For those of you who found "Mannequin" lacking in subtlety and nuance: "Lars and the Real Girl"

This may have been a first in Movievangelist history: Seeing a movie recommended by my mom.

Actually, I remember when this quirky tale of a painfully shy guy who dates a sex doll came out in theaters. Reviews were solid, and if My Eternally Luminous One and I had, you know, anything close to free time at the same time, we would have seen it. As it was, we got it from Netflix after Mom -- not one to rave about movies -- gave it some of her highest praise. "Good movie!" I believe she said via e-mail.

Ryan Gosling -- whom I'm seeing a lot of despite his not being in that many movies -- plays Lars, a twentysomething who lives his his brother's garage. He and his brother (Paul Schneider) each own half the house after their parents died, but Lars apparently likes to be alone, despite the best intentions of his sister-in-law, played by Emily "For Once, I Keep My Shirt On" Mortimer. (Yeah, no boobs from someone who took over the "money in the bank" title from Jennifer Jason Leigh. What's up with that?)

We learn right away that Lars doesn't like real people. Still, it's a tad odd when he all of the sudden introduces his friend from out of town, Bianca. Yep, she's a sex doll, but no, Lars isn't having sex with her. Rather, he treats her like a real, handicapped woman. Just friends, you know? If that sounds weird, well, it is. The look on Schneider's face when he first "meets" Bianca is priceless.

But if that's not weird enough for you, how about this: Before long, the whole town is playing along. That's right ... everyone acts like Bianca is real. It's apparently all part of Lars' therapy; I mean, dude has a sex doll for a girlfriend. Therapy? Um, yeah. It's also pretty funny. Not so much in a belly-laugh way as a get-a-load-of-this way. But I also did out-and-out laugh a couple of times.

No question this is a different kind of movie, but overall it worked for me. Gosling is solid, as are the supporting players. Schneider and Mortimer are really good as the confused-but-game couple, Patricia Clarkson has her usual dignified yet earthy presence as Lars' ... I mean, Bianca's doctor. Kelli Garner is fun as Lars' smitten co-worker. It's no stretch to say I liked all of them. Well, except Bianca. What a b*tch.

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