Watched it with Gabriel and Scott. A review of Crazy Stupid Love (2011) dir. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. Spoiler alert.
This story is crazy. I was invested the whole time. Crazy Stupid Love is in essence the debacle movie; every single character in the movie has relationship drama except for the Weavers' younger daughter. How the different dramas weave (hehe) in and out of each other is really shocking to watch. It's almost voyeuristic to be tuned into everyone's personal life to such a degree. I could have gone without the scene of Hannah at Jacob's house!
There are so many needle drops in this movie. I think I heard Wayne Coyne in there. Longtime readers know I like using pre-existing songs as the soundtrack, as long as it isn't too on the nose. I think the songs were well picked, but the diversity of songs made me feel as if the choices weren't so deliberate. Chimp brain.
Cal's arc was really compelling, once he has the debacle with his wife at the parent teacher conference and realizes his problem. The way he flips around on Jacob feels very natural. Gabriel noted that Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling have the best on-screen chemistry between 2 male actors ever, and I get it. In The Big Short, I couldn't see Steve Carell as anybody other than himself. In Crazy Stupid Love, I never doubted his performance for a moment. Cal Weaver is well-written and he never breaks.
There was a shot at the beginning where Cal Weaver looked like my dad and it was strange.
Since this movie is about relationship debacles, you would expect me to relate to one of the characters. Yet I don't think I do. It's because everybody in this movie is crazy and stupid. Hence the title. It's like a more mild, romantically inclined version of Always Sunny. Everybody is a terrible person, so it's funny to watch it all fall down.
5/10.
