Genre: Comedy
Directors: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Stars: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore
**
With its full complement of A-list acting talent, Crazy, Stupid, Love has so much going for it.
The always reliable Steve Carell, playing clueless nerd Cal, is paired with Julianne Moore’s Emily, who announces after 25 years hitched that she wants a divorce.
We don’t know why and we aren’t given reason to care, but it emerges she’s been cuckolding Cal with her co-worker.
Clearly, Cal’s going to need some help getting his life back together. The film’s tone quickly turns farcical as Ryan Gosling steps in as a hipster mentor in charge of Cal’s manhood reclamation and Marisa Tomei as his new love interest.
But dual directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are uncertain where to take the action and their talented actors are wasted.
Rarely does the film’s dialogue rise above sitcom banality and the plot is hardly fresh. It seems Carell’s essaying another riff on Pygmalion, not to mention his earlier (and better) The 40 Year Old Virgin.
