Dir. John Requ/Glenn Ficarra, USA , 2011, 118 mins,
Cast: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone
Review by Carol Allen
With its top flight cast and grown up script, which mixes comedy with, if not tragedy, quite a lot of sympathy for the contemporary human condition, this film promises a lot and though it doesn’t always deliver, it’s still worth a few quid of your money at the box office.
Cal Weaver (Carell) is a thoroughly decent, rather dull, suburban guy, married with two children and a run of the mill office job. But when his wife Emily ( Moore ), whom he’s been with since high school sweetheart days, tells him that she’s been unfaithful to him and wants a divorce, his world falls apart. Finding himself a forty something new singleton, he starts frequenting a local bar, where he’s taken under the wing of much younger lothario Jacob Palmer (Gosling), who teaches him how to pull the birds for one night stands. But when Jacob meets his match in Hannah (Stone), who’s having none of this “bed ‘em and leave ‘em” nonsense, the boot is on the other foot for the two men.
Carell is a very good comedy actor, who appreciates, much in the way that UK comic actors Harry H. Corbett (Steptoe the Son) and Tony Hancock did years ago, that the basis of true character comedy is the sadness underneath. It’s this which makes Cal ’s futile and fumbling efforts at playing the field so effective. All this guy really wants is the life he once had with Emily. Gosling doesn’t get the same chance to shine that he does in his other film opening this week, the brilliantly disturbing Drive , but he gives depth to what otherwise could have been the rather stock character of the commitment phobic, who’s really a fish just longing to be landed. Moore makes the most of her somewhat underfleshed part and there’s a good cameo from Marisa Tomei as a no longer youthful, part time bar fly with a contrasting daytime persona, who’s only too eager to take up with Cal for a night.
One of the most engaging characters in the film is Jonah Bobo, as Cal ’s 13 year old son Robbie, who’s in love with his 17 year old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), who in turn has a crush on Cal . It’s a strand which creates some useful plot complications and Bobo is a delight, pointing out logically that in a few years time the four year age gap between him and Jessica will be nothing.
The film and its characters are more likeable than uproariously funny, it does perhaps suffer from a slight plethora of plot strands, which sometimes slows the pace down and it is a bit overlong. There is though a refreshing decency and humanity about it, as opposed to the more usual sentimentality of many Hollywood movies. The dialogue is often perceptive, the final twist in the plot is unexpected, if perhaps a touch over neat and it’s worth seeing for its good performances. And young Mr Bobo in particular is a talent to watch out for.
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