Crazy Stupid Love

I'd have to admit that the first reason I have wanted to see this flick was because I did not want to go drinking at 6 PM and reserve the vodkas and margaritas for when I would have to dissect the film and hurl mangling insults to expected bad acting, jokes that don't quite hit the right spot and all too cheesy lines pretending to be witty. And to see Ryan Gosling's abs. And that was all.

Sasha and I were wondering whether to catch it at Rockwell when we suddenly decided to hit the road and brave the traffic heading to Alabang and see Crazy Stupid Love.

This doesn't do justice to the movie at all.

I have seen this trailer a number of times in the last two months and I honestly thought it was a movie waiting to be called crappy. I couldn't get a good grasp of the plot {except that Steve Carell's character was about to be divorced and that Ryan Gosling was his hot friend}.

Having seen the movie now {twice in 24 hours, if I may add}, it truly is a story on Steve Carell's character, Cal Weaver, whose wife asks for a divorce after she's slept with a colleague. Cal's story revolves on how he wonders how he lost his manhood, how his wife have come to seek other things with David Lyndhagen and Jacob Palmer {Gosling}comes in to save the day and Cal's vodka raspberry drinking habits. He begins to unlock his swag and his appeal to the women populace and he realizes what his son had been telling him all along: Fight for your one true love.

That of course is the stuff hopeless romantic comedies are made of but what made this movie special was how real it was. Steve Carell and Julianne Moore felt like a real-life married couple, had such amazing onscreen chemistry. I was not sure how or why it happened by a day after I've seen it, I have thought about it again and again and inspired some more people to see it {with me in tow!} and this movie still elicited the same response from me over and again.

And because it's Saturday afternoon and I'm incoherent and my mind is still lazing and Sex and the City season 4 is running in the background and I am flirting with the idea of going back to bed, I am sharing some thoughts about the movie and hopefully I can inspire someone, anyone to go to the nearest cinema to catch this gem of a rom com.

The first third of the movie may be slow for some, but there is enough emotion to get it flowing, to establish the characters' pains.
Josh Groban is convincing as a douche-y lawyer.
Ryan Gosling. Now, after riding a bike and spewing out cheesy lines in The Notebook and playing that character in Blue Valentine, he takes a stab at playing a suit-wearing womanizer and exposes his "Photoshopped" abs. Reason enough to watch.

Emma Stone. Most people my age and in my environment loved her in Easy A and it's as easy to love her here as Hannah. She may not have as much screen time but every second of her on the screen is a burst of funny, cuteness, adorable-ness and wit.
That phone call between Emily {Moore} and Cal {Carell} left me glassy eyed. The things we do for relationships are far beyond words, or big, grand gestures. Those are the normal things that change in perspective when placed under different circumstances.
The Space Between. In the movie, Emily and Cal shared those private jokes that didn't seem like jokes until you realize there are those things only the two of you can understand {I am assuming most, if not all married couples have this} and as someone who have never been there, I think it must be so precious, I can't begin to understand how one would be in want of walking away from it or do something to lose that.
If someone has to set time aside to think of you, down two glasses of gin {or vodka!} and walk away. Forever.

Marisa Tomei's character was annoying and un-funny and I hope none of my friends {or me!} ever have to go through what she went through.
The last movie of Julianne Moore's that I saw was The Kids Are All Right and she also cheated on her partner {Annette Bening} and now it's the same.
Steve Carell is much better here than he was in Date Night IMO, though Date Night was not so bad.
The soundtrack was pretty good. I was not familiar with any of the songs but I thought they were pretty perfect for a Sunday roadtrip. Oh and you can download it from here, too.
The scene from Dirty Dancing had me laughing for a full minute. They've done that in Heartbreakers, too and in that moment, I just knew I'd be loving this movie as much.
And really, if anyone asks me to watch it again this weekend, I'd gladly oblige. And that would be my third.
Love is crazy and stupid but it's still love and it will never be overrated. If you've found love, strive hard to keep it and nurture it and please, don't do something stupid.
And now, according to Get Glue, I am a Hopeless Romantic. Now, really, Get Glue. What took you so long to realize that?