Lars and the Real Girl

If you just read the synopsis of this movie, you'd no doubt give it a pass. However, the LA Area critics all seemed to agree on the various radio and TV shows this past Thursday and Friday that this is a movie worth seeing. Kenneth Turan of the LA Times gives it a "Critics' Choice Award" and says of "Lars and the Real Girl":

This is a Frank Capra-style fable, a throwback tribute to the joys of friendship and community... Taking one of the most salacious items modern culture can provide as their centerpiece, the filmmakers have created the sweetest, most innocent, most completely enjoyable movie around.

Synopsis:

Gosling stars as Lars Lindstrom, a lovable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the Internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife Karen (Emily Mortimer) and they are stunned. They don't know what to say to Lars or Bianca – because she is a life-size doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) who explains this is a delusion he's created – for what reason she doesn't yet know but they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him.

Opened October 12, 2007
1 hr. 46 min.
PG-13
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Patricia Clarkson, Kelli Garner, Nancy Beatty, Karen Robinson
Director: Craig Gillespie
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Comedy Drama, Psychological Drama Ryan