Maria The Movie Maven, has been Critiquing Movies and Picking Oscar winners with Inpressive Accuracy for some time.

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Crazy, Stupid, Love

Starring
Steve Carell – Cal
Ryan Gosling - Jacob
Julianne Moore - Emily
Emma Stone - Hannah
Cameo appearances by Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon
Running time:  118 minutes
Rated  PG-13

Crazy can mean distracted with desire or excitement or just plain insane.
Stupid can mean given to unintelligent decisions or acts or lacking intelligence or reason.
Love is currently in the top 1% of lookups and is the 12th most popular word on Merriam-Webster.com.  Personally I call it one of life’s great mysteries.

Crazy Stupid Love opens with Cal jumping out of a moving car driven by his wife Emily after she tells him she wants out of their 25 year marriage. Emily has confessed to an affair with her coworker David played by Kevin Bacon.  Cal moves out of his cozy family home and starts hanging out at a trendy bar where he sits alone at the bar drinking and feeling sorry for himself.  Enter Jacob a young handsome dude who takes Cal under his wing and educates him in the art of the pickup. Soon these two are at the mall getting Cal a male makeover.  Not since Richard Gere matched up shirts and suits in American Gigolo have I seen such a brilliant styling scene. With his updated look in place Cal meets and is seduced by Marisa Tomei.  He then goes on to score with several other women. The only problem is that Cal is still in love with Emily.  I think we can all relate to this.  Sex is one thing but love is something much more complicated and that’s why that word is keeping Merriam-Webster.com in business.
There are endearing scenes of Cal sneaking back to his home late at night to tend to the family’s garden. There we see Cal with rake in hand making sure that all is well with the lawn and scrubs.  You’ve got to love this nerdy, nurturing but loveable guy.   Steve Carell is perfect as Cal, a role that was written by Dan Fogelman (“Cars” “Bolt”) with him in mind.  
Cal’s 13 year old son Robbie has crazy love issues of his own as he is in love with his 17 year old babysitter Jessica who in turn is in love with Cal. Everyone seems to be in love with the wrong person.    
Jacob seems to view love as a sport. That is until he meets Hannah, a beautiful young law student who seems immune to his pick-up lines. Complications ensue as Hannah is dating a young lawyer played by Josh Groban and living a self described “PG-13” lifestyle.  But Hannah and Jacob do meet again and she helps him open up.  Here we learn much more about Jacob’s back story. 
Ryan Gosling, a star rising high at the moment proves that he’s good at everything including comedy.  His scenes with Steve Carell are funny and full of heart.   This film really brings home the importance of love in our lives.  Love may be a fragile thing but as the theme song goes in The Best of Everything (1959) “Love can be all or nothing but even when it’s nothing it’s still the best of everything”.
I recommend this film highly for date night. 
May love be in your life now and always.
-Maria
Some facts about Steve Carell:
He’s a Leo born August 16, 1963.
He met his wife Nancy Walls while both were writers and performers with the Second City comedy troupe in Chicago.
He received a real “chest hair wax” on camera during filming of The 40 Year Old Virgin.
He appeared in TV ads for FedEx
He has two children, John and Elisabeth Anne.
Crazy Stupid Love is the first film produced by Steve Carell’s production company and hopefully one of many. 

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Wisewoman Maria The Movie Mavin