Lars and the Real Girl

Just watched this last night and wanted to to tell you all how much i LOVED it. When Juno won Best Original Screenplay i had a funny feeling someone was getting gyped and now I know who [I liked Juno, but I thought the writing was fun, but a little glib and amateur. The performances carried that movie for me]. Anyhoo, Lars and the Real Girl was so quietly uplifting. I don't know if i believe the world works the way it does in this movie, but i want to. I don't want to give away the storyline so I'll just talk about it generally. There's a very short scene in the beginning of the movie that exposits the whole situation beautifully. Lars is talking to his brother and you find out what their family was like. What dad was like, what happened to mom, why Lars is the way he is. And it's very natural and unforced. There are key phrases and scenes throughout the movie that just flow out very naturally. I just bought the whole thing. I don't mind if a movie seems fake, but it's got to be that kind of a movie. This story could have been played much more for laughs. That probably would've been a safer choice, so it's really nice that they went the real route and pulled it off so well.

There's one moment when Ryan Gosling moves in a way that makes you remember that he's a hotshot young actor and not Lars. It's like the ONE WORD that Emily Mortimer says that reminds you "hey, she's got a british accent in real life". It just points out the fact that for every other moment of their performances they're really being someone else.

I can't say enough good things about this movie. i LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it. Let me know if you agree/disagree.

P.S. For some reason, I also got a kick out of the fact that the doll looks exactly like Angelina Jolie.