Lars and The Real Girl
Lars and The Real Girl is the story of Lars Lindstrom(Ryan Gosling) who is very shy man who finds a girlfriend in the form of a life size sex doll. Hilarity ensues but at a weird silent sort of way. The movie is directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Nancy Oliver.
This movie has a unique plot but all it really boils down to is the effects of small town life and alienation . Ryan Gosling gives a great performance as Lars who seemingly is afraid of interaction with women his age or anybody really as he is a recluse. He lives in the garage of the house his father left behind. Lars’ mother died when he was younger and so he had to deal with his father’s depression and thus there is the main reason for the problem. But as the brother, Gus(Paul Schneider) and the sister-in-law Karin(Emily Mortimer) try to get Lars to open up he opens up on his own. With a life size sex doll of course.
The movie as a whole is enjoyable and quiet. It is really quirky and while sometimes predictable it still is very heart warming. Ryan’s constant hard blinking throughout the movie was nice touch as well to make Lars seem even more distant. Of course the sex doll comes into play for the catalyst to set everything else in motion. The whole town embraces the fake person and even reflect their own selves onto her and figure out their own problems while Lars figures out his.
Perhaps the most uplifting part of this whole movies is that Lars actually draws out his feeling for the love interest, Margo(Kelli Garner) during this course which causes him to overcome of fear of his. This also brings out the saddest moment of the movie but it does it’s job and gives us the ending we need.
All in all, it’s a mopy movie but it delivers the story well, flows nicely, and good acting all around. I recommend you watch this and if you don’t enjoy it you really don’t have a soul.
Final Verdict: 3.7 out of 5
