Review of Lars and the Real Girl (2007) by Mark D — 21 Dec 2013

This was a surprisingly sweet movie. It also proves how versatile Ryan Gosling can be. I was impressed by his performance here.

We have a very introverted man who orders himself one of those "real doll" thingys on the web. He proceeds to treat it as if it's a real woman. He's obviously going through some mental trauma, so the whole village agrees to go along with it, in the hopes that doing so will help him work out his issues.

It's a fantastic example of how wonderful people can be when we all come together for a cause. I was genuinely moved.

The only problem is a lack of decent backstory to explain what really caused his slip into delusion. We get a little, but not quite enough.

I like surprises like this. You would never think a movie about a a man and his doll could work so well.