Review of Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) by Chipperx — 05 Sep 2011

Love is all of these things at once - that is why a movie about "Crazy, Stupid, Love" succeeds as a romantic comedy. Okay, okay - that is only part of the reason. The ingredients for the success of this movie are irreverent comedy, razor-sharp dialogue, awesome imagination and great execution. In other words, the writers keep the love side hot, and the stupid side cool. No, really. Case in point: The divorce. Even though Cal's wife Emily asks him for a divorce, we can see that the two still love one another. Cal (Steve Carell) is predictably upset, since his character has only had ONE sexual partner his entire life - Emily (Julianne Moore). With the help of his pre-teen son, Cal sets out on a ridiculous quest to win her back. That's just CRAZY. This sets the stage for Steve Carell to sort-of reprise his stupidly-bumbling-but-good-natured-and-somehow-sexy role Andy from The Forty Year Old Virgin. And... it works. Somehow. There are plenty of sight gags and one-liners to keep everyone entertained, but beneath all the hilarity is a beautiful, messy painting which seeks to mirror the real world. I was reminded of my own life when viewing this movie - sometimes, when crazy things happen, you just have to shake your head and roll with it. As romantic comedies go, this was probably my favorite movie of the year. Loved it!

- Chipper F. Xavier, Esq.