"Crazy, Stupid, Love" Accurate Title

 

    Well, I safely say for sure that this movie certainly lives up to it's title. It's a bit crazy, in the sense that it's audacious enough to try this unorthodox plot. The plot twist I would say is unexpected and warranted enough that I'd call it crazy. And yes it has a lot of love in it, but the movie also feel's so stupid. Like not just that there's a cringy scene that makes you as a viewer groan kind of stupid, but like this movie tries to intertwine three different love plots and one of them is so legitimately stupid and weird that frankly it threatens to tank the entire score for the rest of this film. Let's talk about it.

    There's just no way to slice around it, this movie is messy. The first hour is fine, if a little confusing and perhaps not as interesting as you'd hope it to be. I think I can safely say the most fun I had in the first hour or so of this movie was just watching Ryan Gosling fuck around and basically do his best sigma male impression where he's just kind of slapping Steve Carell around and talking about all of this superficial nonsense. It sounds pretty funny and frankly halfway through you're just kind of confused by everything. I mean it seems like Steve Carell's plotline is almost done, and it's just really depressing, and you're wondering why Emma Stone's character randomly shows up.

    I have to admit though, this movie does get pretty funny in the second half. I'm not saying Ryan Gosling carried this film, but what I will say is that as soon as he meets Emma Stone's character and they have this nice long conversation. It's not even that much, these characters aren't magically super fleshed out, but it's nice, and it makes more sense than Steve Carell bumbles around because his wife left him. And honestly I must admit, it does get pretty funny when the big twist happens and everyone meets, and I kind of like Jacob even if he just magically switches up.

    There's just no other way to say it, it's a rom com, but it's more focused on plot and characters, and it's just not that deep. Ultimately, yes the plot moves forward in some weird and contrived ways, but the ending is fine/cute enough, and it's funny enough that it works. Now let's talk about the dreaded third storyline. I think it's super weird that they had a 17 year old having the hots for a man who is clearly in the forties, and they decided to have her try and send the nudes to the old dude which leads to this whole misunderstanding. I also think Robbie is a pervy little shit that someone should have sat down and taught boundaries. I also think it's kind of weird she gives him her nudes at the end. What I'm basically saying is that this film probably could have been half an hour shorter and significantly less weird if they cut that side plot out.

Final Score: 60/100

    It's cool though, I'd say the film is still pretty solid. I think it's good enough for one watch, but I'd be hesitant to say two watches or something like that. I just think this movie relies pretty heavily on the twist, and the first half can feel pretty aimless without tying it all together. Well, this film also relies pretty heavily on the acting, and luckily the cast is pretty star-studded and I thought the acting was good so it kind of balanced itself out at the end. Even still, I don't know if I can give it anything more than a 60 considering the fact that I actively don't like a third of this film. Is it a fine rom-com? Yeah. Do I think it's a really good rom-com? Hell no.