Hammerle on Lars and the Real Girl

Robert Hammerle

November 05, 2007 by Robert Hammerle

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Hammerle on Lars and the Real Girl

Lars and the Real Girl is far too cute, goofy, sincere and well acted not to be recommended. On the other hand, it strains reality to such an extent that it is likely soon to be forgotten.

This movie belongs entirely to Ryan Gosling, who proves that he is more than a great actor, but indeed a bold and daring one. He follows up his Academy Award nominated performance as the drug addicted teacher in Half Nelson with this bizarrely wonderful performance as a mentally ill introvert having a relationship with a life size blow up doll. And what a performance it is.

While Gosling commands every scene he is in, the movie suffers in my view from the screenwriter's (Nancy Oliver) decision to have the entire town go along with his dillusion. While initially quite amusing, it pushes the outside of the envelope so far as to minimize the story's dramatic effect.

In addition, though hinted at in conversations with his brother (played by Paul Schneider), the back story as to why Gosling would withdraw from reality is left underdeveloped. While we clearly know he is sick, I didn't sense that the audience could identify with the reason the entire town catered to Gosling's dillusional fantasy. I mean, is the cure for mental illness having everyone around you act mentally ill?

On the other hand, I really don't want to over emphasize what I perceive to be the film's weaknesses, as it was, after all, an art film playing at an art cinema. Films like Lars are not intended for a mass audience, and it represents why October and November are months when adults go to the movies.

Finally, no review of this movie could fail to mention the performances of Emily Mortimer and the underrated Patricia Clarkson. Mortimer's role as the pregnant sister-in-law of Gosling may have defined the only truly sane person in this movie. And Clarkson is again a pleasure to watch. While it doesn't compare to her marvelous performances in The Station Agent (2003), Pieces of April (2003) and this year's underrated No Reservations, she is the female equivalent of Tommy Lee Jones as a woman who is simultaneously wise yet weary.

Finally, my first vicarious movie love as a young boy was with Hayley Mills. I was so entranced that I sat through Pollyanna (1960) three times in one day! (Cut me some slack, I was only 13!)

As shameful as it is to admit this, the one thing I remember about her as a teenage boy was her incredible lips. In Lars, Kelly Garner plays Margo, a young girl attracted to Gosling. She has Hayley Mill's lips! Be quiet my palpitating heart!

Forum: Movies

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Lars and the Real Girl, Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider

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1 comment

Jon
Jon, November 22, 2007
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Bob -- just saw Lars this afternoon. It's one of the few movies I've seen this year that I've loved. I'm usually pretty cynical and acid-skinned when it comes to sentimentality, but I think the filmmakers pulled off a neat trick. (I am, however, glad I did not know before I saw the movie that Craig Gillespie also directed the awful-looking "Mr. Woodcock" this year.)

I give the writer more credit than you do. She sidestepped a whole lot of potholes with an inherently tricky story idea. She pulled it off, and for me, the movie played like a wonderful short story come to life: Not too much backstory, not too much psycholanalytical explanation, maybe a little fantasy, but mostly just the story at hand. And it's a good one.

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