Crazy, Stupid, Love

This 2011 comedy features Steve Carell as Cal Weaver, a forty something man who married his high school sweetheart and has the life he wants. As he and his wife Emily, played by Julianne Moore are out to dinner one evening she abruptly tells him she would like a divorce. On the way home while she drives out of nervous energy she keeps talking and spills details that she slept with her coworker David. Cal is stunned and eventually jumps out of the car.

Cal moves out right away and soon takes to spending his time in bars at night. He settles on a bar and each night as he imbibes talks loudly about his wife leaving him, cuckolding him, cheating on him. Eventually a lothario who often frequents the bar named Jacob Palmer calls him over to his table and tells him he is embarrassing himself. He offers to help Cal learn how to get women, change his image, to become a player. Cal agrees to the deal and soon starts spending time with Jacob. Ryan Gosling does a great job as Jacob as night after night Cal watches him pick up a different women always ending with his best line, " You want to get out of here." After a week or two Cal begins to doubt the effectiveness of his " training" until when Cal offers him a couple of questions he realizes he has absorbed it all.

Eventually Cal starts picking up women too and soon word filters back to his ex wife that he is a dating machine.

Emily did not really know what she wanted when she asked for a divorce. She had cheated on Cal but did not love or really even like David. Kevin Bacon plays David as a shady womanizer and does well.

In the meantime Emily and Cal's 13 year old son has fallen for his babysitter Jessica, a 17 year old, that upon hearing of the separation of his parents comes down squarely on the side of Cal, in fact she has developed a crush on him. Cal, oblivious to this says things that make her love him even more. In the meantime Robbie, the son, keeps professing his love to Jessica. As you can imagine this is a very tangled web.

We also have Hannah, a young woman who at the beginning of the movie turns down Jacob, one of the few women who does. She is getting ready to take her bar exam but upon passing is disappointed to find out that her boyfriend's, played by Josh Groban, promised big question is not to marry him but to become a permanent lawyer in the firm. Upset and embarrassed by this she walks into the bar where she had met Jacob and asks him if HE " wants to get out of here." He of course complies but strangely when they get back to his place instead of the expected they end up talking all night.

Soon Jacob is in a relationship, foreign territory for him, with Hannah.

In the end all of these story lines tie together, surprisingly, in one uproarious scene that is very very funny.

Emma Stone as Hannah plays an attractive and likable character, Moore is always strong, and as I have said before I just enjoy Steve Carell.

There is nothing in this movie that makes it great and it is not, it is however a very good movie. One I strongly reccomend.

Seeking a Friend For the End of the World

Friday evening my wife and I, as well as her sister went to see the new Steve Carell movie. Carell is surely one of the more likable comedic actors these days and I thought the premise of the movie looked good.

The movie begins with Carell's character Dodge driving with his wife when a news bulletin comes on the radio advising that efforts by a space shuttle mission to divert the asteroid known as Matilda has failed. This intones the announcer was the last chance to prevent the asteroids collision with Earth.

As they sit there, stunned, Dodge's wife gets out of the car, evidently deciding that spending the last 21 days of her life with him is not what she wants.

One might expect the world would go crazy, and they would be right but for Dodge he just continues. He goes to work, selling insurance. Eventually even the silliness of this is apparent to him. He goes to a party at a friend's house. His friend's wife played by Connie Britton wants to fix him up. The woman is very willing but Dodge cannot make himself spend the last three weeks of his life getting to know someone. This scene is actually quite funny. With the world coming to an end there are no limits. The party progresses, the children are taught to drink alcohol, we hear someone say, " Hey everyone we are going to do heroin." In short a dark but funny view of the end of the world.

After Dodge arrives at home he sees a young lady out on his fire escape. As he opens the window the young lady embraces him in tears. He invites her in, she introduces herself as Penny who has just broke up with her boyfriend, they lived upstairs in the building.

Penny would like to get home to see her family in England, Dodge decides he would like to revisit his first love. Over time they develop a friendship. The truth is for a movie about the end of the world not as much happens as you would expect.

With all that however the movie is very sweet. I thought it was one of the movies that was just understated enough to be more than the sum of its parts. Penny, played by Kiera Knightly , accompanies Dodge as he travels back to find his lost love. Kiera Knightly has been in many movies, I cannot think of any of them, but I must say that I found her in this role to be very attractive and likable. Perhaps Carell's likability rubs off on her. In any case Penny is a joy.

Another fine part of the movie is when Dodge goes to see his father. His father, played by Martin Sheen, had left the family when he was a boy and he had not seen him since as he wanted no part of a reconciliation. After some talk it is agreed that sorry is sorry and they reconcile. The scene of them having dinner is more heartwarming than would be expected.

Eventually as they approach the current home of Olivia, the first love, Dodge realizes that his true love is right there with him. This is why he took her to his father, who has a plane and can fly her home to her family. After placing her asleep in the plane he goes home to his apartment. Soon thereafter however Penny appears, knowing that she only wants to be with him in this time.

By this time the end is near. They lay on the bed and as they speak of their love they hear the sound of the asteroid coming in and then the screen goes white.

My wife liked the movie, my sister in law could not get over the difference in the ages of Dodge and Penny. Seems kind of silly to me, with the end of the world weeks away I do not think an age difference really matters.

I liked this movie very much.

Dinner for Schmucks

We watched this movie last night on HBO. About thirty minutes in I said to my wife that this movie was not that funny. We stuck with it and in the end were rewarded. The movie itself was not great. The cast however was strong and in the case of Steve Carell and Zak Galifinakas exceptional.

Paul Rudd plays Tim Conrad an ambitous business executive who is trying to get ahead. Looking for a promotion he brings an Swiss client into the business and offered a promotion. Still for the promotion he must take part in a Dinner for Winners. The purpose of this dinner when it becomes apparent is to bring the biggest idiot to supper. Tim's girlfriend a museum curator is against this idea.

Pondering all this Tim runs into, literally, Barry Speck played by Steve Carell. Speck accidentally sabotages his relationship with his girlfriend and his business dinner with his potential client. Still Tim knows that Barry is a good person and develops an affection for him.

In the end everything turns out the way one would like but there are many detours on the way. Galifinakas plays Barry Speck's fellow IRS employee and arch competitor and as in all of his roles is over the top and scene stealing.

Date Night

Another movie of my wife's choice last night from Netflix. We watched a movie on a Thursday night, this be a daring event on a schoolnight after the kids were in bed. Well all the kids save my oldest who continued to blast the television from the living room.

Steve Carell is very funny and Tina Fey has become the sexy librarian it is ok to think is funny and cute. This movie started out funny and certain pieces were funny.

For example the scenes prior to the plot takeoff were cute and identifiable. The scenes when they are dining out and play a couples game of trying to come up with a " story" about the other couples in the restaurant was funny both times.

However the movie, a case of mistaken identity gone crazy becomes implausible in the extreme. I can suspend disbelief in an action movie but do not go to many for that reason, and I can suspend it in a comedy when a putz actor ends up with a supermodel but to suspend belief in an action comedy movie proved a bit much.

The movie was fine but the only part I would remember and talk to my brethren about would be Ray Liotta's scene as a mob boss. Predictable yes, but any nod to Good Fellas is good with me.