Academy Awards, USA 2008
| Nominated Oscar | Best Writing, Original Screenplay Nancy Oliver |
MGM
Directed by Craig Gillespie
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(MGMHD)
Ryan Gosling is a socially inept twenty-something living in the garage of his brother's house. One day a co-worker at his office job shows him a web site that sells sex dolls. He seems disinterested, but a few months later a large box containing a doll is delivered to his house. He adopts it as his girlfriend, talking to her as if she were a real person. When he brings her to dinner with his brother and wife, they are aghast and make an appointment with a psychiatrist. The doctor believes it is a harmless delusion that will eventually fade and encourages them to play along. Soon the whole town is in on the act as Lars and his sex doll go to parties, attend church, etc. I was initially skeptical of what on the surface seems to be a one-joke movie. However, the script cleverly manipulates the emotions of the viewer so that we eventually become part of the joke. Like everyone else in town we care about the doll because we care about Lars. Still, the "quirky" midwestern characters are frequently cliches, the camera tends to wander in that trendy shaky cam kind of way, the music is quirky light jazz more suitable for a Volkswagen commercial, all modern touches that detract from rather than add to what is otherwise a fine little "dramedy", to use a modern phrase.
No comments:
Post a Comment