The unlikeliest of tearjerkers, "Lars and the Real Girl" is a movie that rarely fails to surprise. What else is there to say about a film where a guy falls in love with a life-size sex doll?

This is not a gross-out comedy a la the Farrelly brothers ("There's Something About Mary") replete with bawdy romps and bodily fluids. Rather, it's a tender drama about a gentle, painfully shy man who uses a plastic surrogate as a way to reconnect with his community.

To be sure, there are some laughs, too. How could there not be, with Lars wheeling the doll around his tiny Northern town in a wheelchair, calling her Bianca, and even carrying on conversations with her? And with his psychologist advising the townsfolk to play along?

Director Craig Gillespie and writer Nancy Oliver ("Six Feet Under") must walk the thinnest of tightropes, for if the tone of the film strays ever slightly into ironic territory, the whole delicate construction falls. Not only do they avoid that trap, they create several scenes of pure cinematic magic.

Ryan Gosling, nominated for an Oscar last year for his portrayal of a drug-addicted teacher in "Half Nelson," further bolsters his reputation. Lars lives in the garage of his brother and his wife (Paul Schneider and Emily Mortimer), who are expecting their first child. Soon after a big box arrives, he introduces them to Bianca -- who sort of resembles Angelina Jolie -- whom he claims he met on the Internet.

Shocked, they take him to the local head-shrinker (Patricia Clarkson), a patient sort who reasons that Lars is using this plastic girlfriend as a way to reach out.

Soon, the very odd couple are stepping out to parties, the mall, etc. It takes a big suspension of disbelief to accept that a psychologist would tacitly approve such a delusion, and that the whole town would go along with it.

Especially enchanting are the scenes Gosling shares with Kelli Garner, in a luminescent performance, as an awkward co-worker with a crush on Lars. Who knew that bowling and teddy-bear CPR could be so moving?