Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Extremely shy Lars finds it impossible to make friends or socialize. His brother and sister-in-law worry about him, so when he announces that he has a girlfriend he met on the Internet, they are overjoyed. But Lars' new lady is a life-size plastic woman. On the advice of a doctor, his family and the rest of the community go along with his delusion.
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What critics compared Lars and the Real Girl to
(If Ryan Gosling could fall in love with a blow-up sex doll in “Lars and the Real Girl” and make us misty, you’ll believe Phoenix could fall in love with a computer voice.)
The story evinces such empathy for its characters and respect for their emotions that the film never threatens to become a gawking sideshow that makes a spectacle of redeeming its hero (I’m looking at you, “Lars and the Real Girl”), and the movie’s premise seldom overwhelms its plot.
Its defenders play down the science fiction element and focus on the human need for connection, forgetting that “Lars And The Real Girl” (2007) did just that and didn’t even need an actress to voice the dummy its protagonist fixated on.
But I don’t know… this kind of reminds me of Ryan Gosling in, you know, Lars and the Real Girl ?
But as we have seen in “Lars and the Real Girl,” “Ruby Sparks,” George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” (which became the musical “My Fair Lady’), there’s no happily ever after in a relationship with a creation.
Much like Lars and the Real Girl, Jonze avoids the queasier aspects of the relationship’s sexuality with some deft comedy and a few edits; this is a solo Jonze script, and many see similarities to it and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , penned by frequent Jonze-colaborator Charlie Kaufman.
No, Ruby’s not the rubbery doll paraded about as non-fictional in 2007?s ”Lars and the Real Girl,” but rather she’s a distant cousin to Harold Crick, the IRS auditor played by Will Ferrell in the 2006 film “Stranger Than Fiction.”
With a tip of the hat to classics like Pygmalion, Frankenstein and even the more recent Ryan Gosling film, Lars and The Real Girl, the directing and producing team plus co-star of Little Miss Sunshine have banded together to create a charming male fantasy comedy with a twist.
Directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, Fright Night, I, Tonya), Cruella is pretty lengthy at 2 hours and 14 minutes, and the plot goes on to describe a secret from Cruella's past, her transformation from the good "Estella" to the Cruella de Vil we all know and loathe, and many little origin-style tidbits that lead right up to the beginning of 101 Dalmatians.
We grumps wouldn’t be swayed by the flashy casting of ace actor Emma Stone, nor would we be suckered into hoping for something idiosyncratic by the hiring of I, Tonya and Lars and the Real Girl director Craig Gillespie.
Cruella , directed by Craig Gillespie, a filmmaker whose career got off to a somewhat promising start with the quirky Lars and the Real Girl , and was quickly enlisted to become a go-to Disney hack, is another effort in the mold of the Maleficent franchise.
In retconning one of Walt Disney Studios' best-known villains, filmmaker Craig Gillespie (“Lars and the Real Girl”) took on a challenge that seemingly was doomed to failure and created a fun, flighty romp that humanizes Cruella de Vil, of all characters.
This Disney version is trying to be oh-so-hip, getting an edgy treatment from director Craig Gillespie, whose filmography includes offbeat items like I, Tonya and Lars and the Real Girl, plus a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara (Story by Aline Brosh McKenna and Kelly Marcel & Steve Zissis) that sets most of the action in the punk-filled 1970s London.
I should have expected nothing less from director Craig Gillespie, known for odd and offbeat fare like “Lars and the Real Girl” and “I, Tonya.”
And old Auntie Helene (Nicky Guadagni, Lars and the Real Girl ) is a scream.
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In the past, you have seen Gosling (or maybe not) in films that have ranged from the edgy likes of “The Believer” and “Half Nelson” to more commercial endeavors such as “The Notebook,” “Murder By Numbers”and “Fracture” Some of those films have been good and some have been quite bad but in each one of them, Gosling has tackled the material with the kind of fierce commitment and determination that is reminiscent of Sean Penn in his early heyday.
Gosling continues his winning streak of strong roles in smart films (The Believer, Half Nelson, Fracture), showing his talents here as both a terrific character actor and appealing leading man.
Bryan Gosling continues his slide down from The Believer (2001) as the title misfit, who’s first seen clutching the baby blanket knit for him by his mother, who died giving birth to him.
(The great “Half Nelson” and “The Believer” remain underseen, while “The Notebook” is his major box office success.)
With none of the hard edges he displayed in Half Nelson and Fracture (never mind The Believer), he makes Lars into someone gentle and sad without being mopey, displaying awesome comic timing and a preternatural sense for the way years and years of mounting insecurities might plausibly manifest themselves in the character's body language and speech.
Of course, the real key to "Lars and the Real Girl" is Gosling, who for most of his fans arrived on the scene in 2004 in the romance "The Notebook," but who has been turning in consistently exceptional performances since his breakout lead role in the searing 2001 drama "The Believer."
Grace creates a female dancing partner in a nod to Gosling’s role in Lars and the Real Girl…
The indie darling directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon has the charm of "Be Kind Rewind," the awkwardness of "Lars and the Real Girl," and the atmosphere of "Rushmore."
Like “Lars and the Real Girl” by way of Nick Hornby and Wes Anderson, “Frank” traces Jon’s adventures into the land of art and fellowship with gentle, joyful sweetness that borders on the precious.
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And while this might seem like the premise of something precious and sensitive, like Lars and the Real Girl, Ted runs yelling in the opposite direction.