Lars and the Real Girl
Release Date:
October 12, 2007
Limited release
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 7/46 |
Les Winan |
Charming and funny. Never as ridiculous as you'd think. Ryan Gosling is stellar. |
| 20/94 |
Shane Jenkins |
The sweetest movie possible involving a sex doll. Well, at least one without Ron Jeremy. |
| 28/214 |
Max Braden |
Better than I had anticipated, this might have been even better from the Waking Ned Devine crowd. As it is, it's better than Reign Over Me. |
Six Feet Under alumnus Nancy Oliver, writer of seven of the HBO series’ 63 episodes, has graduated to the silver screen with her first feature-length film, Lars and the Real Girl.
In the heartfelt comedy, Academy Award-nominated actor Ryan Gosling stars as Lars Lindstrom, an introvert whose irreconcilable problems with love has for years left him single and unable to embrace life to the fullest. One day, however, he meets Bianca on the Internet and introduces her to his brother, Gus, and wife, Karen. They are, in fact, stunned by his dating choice because Bianca does not turn out to be a real woman, but rather a life-size doll. What follows is a touching journey for Lars and others around him, including family doctor Dagmar, who tells the family that Bianca is an allusion to Lars and that for the time being, they should just go with it.
Rounding out the cast are Paul Schneider and Emily Mortimer, who play Gus and Karen, respectively. And Patricia Clarkson, who previously worked with Oliver over at Six Feet Under, stars as the film’s family doctor. The veteran actress received her first Academy Award nomination four years ago for playing Joy Burns in the uber-cheap indie Pieces of April, which cost just $100,000 to make.
Lars and the Real Girl, which shares a similar plot to the 2002 French film, Monique, serves as a break from unsophisticated comedy for Craig Gillespie. In September, his directorial debut, Mr. Woodcock, disappointed critics and bombed at the box office. The farce, starring Billy Bob Thorton, Susan Sarandon and Seann William Scott, has earned less than $25 million to date. (Eric Hughes/BOP)
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