Review of Lars and the Real Girl (2007) by Marta K — 08 Oct 2014

The premise for "Lars and the Real Girl" sounds like a bad teenage sex comedy, but it's actually a surprisingly touching drama about mental disorders and a community getting together to help one of its members get himself back together. The basic concept is that a lonely and at least a little bit mentally disturbed man named Lars (Ryan Gosling) brings home a woman he has been "chatting with over the internet for a while". In actuality the woman, named Bianca, is a sex doll. Lars claimed that she is a shy woman, wheelchair-bound missionary from Brazil that he has befriended and that she will visit the town with him. It becomes apparent to everyone in the community that Lars is even more disturbed than they suspected, but they decide to play along with this fantasy of his in the hopes that it will benefit the man.

There are not a lot of laugh-out-loud moments in the film, but you will be smiling a lot and it will make you think about what it would really be like to be caring for someone who is as deeply disturbed as Lars. The film is smartly written and you can tell that a lot of heart was put into making it. Although it's set in a fantasy community, the film is true to itself and in the world it's set in, it feels very realistic. All of the performances are great and it's hard to imagine not being touched on some degree after finishing the film, which wraps itself up perfectly. (On Dvd, September 27, 2012).