Review of Lars and the Real Girl (2007) by Spangle — 03 Apr 2016

Lars and the Real Girl is a truly interesting and compelling film that offers an entirely painful and authentic look at mental illness. Even better, it never truly mocks its protagonist and chooses to instead force the audience to feel sympathy and embrace him for who he truly is.

Ryan Gosling gives a fantastic performance in the lead role as the disconnected and certainly ill Lars. Emily Mortimer and Paul Schneider are also both very good here in their roles. The film's writing feels incredibly real and never exploitative and honestly rips your heart out as frequently as it makes you feel physical pain with how awkward and sad some of the scenes are.

The film is very well-written with all of the characters quite well fleshed out and very, again, authentic. Everybody feels real and nobody feels like some character written for a film. Instead, they feel like real people with real problems.

Overall, Lars and the Real Girl is a very good film with a lot of heart that will certainly touch yours.