OVP: Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Film: Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson
Director: Craig Gillespie
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Original Screenplay)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

There once was a time, in the years prior to Crazy Sexy Love that Ryan Gosling was a less conventional breed of sexy.  Yes, he was Noah in The Notebook and yes that launched a thousand crushes and memes, but he wasn't this Adonis that you hung on the wall of your cubicle with "Hey Girl" quotes.  He was this quirky guy, who frequently found himself as one of the most intriguing actors of his era, taking over where Heath Ledger sadly left off, and basically having every single role that he took on be an event.  Honestly-look at Gosling from 2006-2011 and notice how every film he made seems "essential" to view.  One of the last headliners from that period that I had somehow not caught was Lars and the Real Girl, perhaps the quirkiest film I've seen this side of a Wes Anderson film.  Here Gosling has arguably his toughest acting assignment yet-figure out a way to make a young man who is in love with a sex doll not feel gimmicky or too twee.

(Spoilers Ahead) Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the famed Ryan Gosling sex-doll film (if you hadn't already put that together), the movie that inexplicably dominated awards show season a few years back, with Gosling nabbing Globe and SAG nominations and one assumes nearly taking Tommy Lee Jones' Best Actor citation at the Oscars.  The movie takes place in a small rural town where Lars, who clearly has some sort of OCD and doesn't enjoy human contact, even with his deeply caring sister-in-law (Mortimer) or his coworkers who thoroughly enjoy him, seems lonely but no one knows how to solve this.  One day he decides to order a sex doll over the internet and falls under the illusion that she is real.  Fearing that he might be insane but not wanting to cart him off to an asylum, his relatives, town, and doctor (Clarkson) all cater to this delusion, eventually falling a bit under it themselves with Bianca getting elected to the town council and becoming a volunteer across the town.  The movie ends with Lars finally losing his attachment to Bianca, who "dies" and he falls for a young woman in town named Margo (Garner).

The film works a small miracle with the way it handles what could have been a gimmicky situation.  A lot of that credit goes to both Gosling, who never abandons his belief that Bianca is real, and in particular to Nancy Oliver's Oscar-nominated script, which finds not only the warmth in this relationship and the way the people of the town react, but also has the sharpness not to ever stop it from being sincere.  The film wouldn't work if the town treated Bianca drastically different when Lars wasn't around, or if they abandoned the pretense with scenes of her falling through a window or breaking in half or something.  The potential for comedy is there, but it's a softer, gentler comedy and one that doesn't mock Lars, but laughs along with the situation.  It's a neat trick for a subject that seems more tailor-made for the Adam Sandler set, and while I suspect that would have helped its Box Office (the film was a letdown in that department), it certainly improves its shelf life.  In many ways I was reminded of the 1950 classic Harvey with Jimmy Stewart, and how that film found a wonderful center in the story and the relationship to make the movie work.

Gosling himself, it should be noted, is magnificent here.  He's sweet, kind, but always a real-person, and finds a way to release the damage he has felt through his life in surprising bursts, never feeling like they are convenient to the plot.  We see the way that losing his mother at such a young age impacted his relationships, particularly with women, and the way that he seems like the perfect candidate for someone to inexplicably latch onto an inanimate object.  Really, though, no one is slouching in the acting department.  Emily Mortimer is divinely warm as his sister-in-law who just wants to find someplace happy for this man (you also get the sense that she herself has struggled with loneliness, and wants to find a way to help Lars escape the pain she felt), and Patricia Clarkson actually gets to act here, which is strange considering how she always seems wasted onscreen lately, as her doctor is unknowable yet crucially finds ways to bring Lars forward that aren't 100% obvious to the audience.

Overall I loved the story.  The ending was a little too obvious for me and maybe a little too perfect, but occasionally you need that so I don't fault it too greatly and hope that everyone out there sees the film.  If you have, share your thoughts below-what did you think of Lars and the Real Girl?