Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Paul Schneider, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson
Rating: PG-13

Ryan Gosling in Lars and the Real Girl. (Courtesy photo)

Lars and the Real Girl is about a quiet young man who buys a life-size sex doll and says she is his girlfriend. Does that description bother you as much as it bothers me? That movie held no interest for me—cutesy title, cutesy subject matter. But friends wouldn’t stop raving about it, so I went. I am very glad I did. Lars takes the silly and explores it thoughtfully, and even delightfully, right to the very end. A common complaint of mine is that some scripts need a second, third, and fourth pass before going onto the screen. That is most definitely not the case with Lars. The screenplay and the cast come together so naturally, so gracefully, they create a surprisingly accessible film. The only real issue for general audiences: the cringe factor. Watching Lars present “Bianca” to the community with such honesty and vulnerability is at times excruciatingly uncomfortable. But then, that’s another sign of a job very well done.

Lars (Ryan Gosling) lives in the garage of his old family home, while his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer) live in the main house. Lars is a fully functioning guy, sweet and charming. But he’s also intensely private, and uncomfortably idiosyncratic. The emotionally stoic Gus is happy to let Lars be his introverted self, but Karin wants to see him blossom. Both are thrilled when Lars tells them he has a girlfriend staying with him. The thrill vanishes when Lars presents Bianca, a human-sized, 120- pound, anatomically correct doll. But Lars is completely committed to this young woman, even conversing with her. Gus and Karin turn to local psychologist Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), and are mortified by her recommendation that everyone go along.

Movies tend to consistently break a certain rule: they create characters that don’t exist in the real world, and then ask us to invest in them as if they were real. I’m not talking about vampires or people who suddenly can’t lie. I’m talking about characters like Lars, a man with obvious mental or emotional damage, but otherwise a great catch for any gal. I still can’t believe how completely I was taken by the movie. It’s a testament to the fine team effort by director Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock – yes, you read that right), the stellar cast and especially the screenplay by Nancy Oliver (Six Feet Under). Oliver’s characters almost completely avoid stereotyping—even the large supporting cast making up the classic small town. We begin to understand that, in spite of the wintry, naturalistic look of cinematographer Adam Kimmel (Capote), Lars and the Real Girl is actually a fable. Without giving away too much, the movie does get sentimental. I wish Gillespie and team had reigned in the sentiment a little —but just a little.

Ryan Gosling is still so young (27) and so new at being a movie star, that I worry I will be repeating myself often over the next few years. But he is simply one of the finest young actors working today. It’s still hard to say whether Gosling is a team player or not—does he truly engage with his fellow actors, or is his work created in a vacuum and then unleashed on the others? Such performers tend to expose themselves over time (see Kevin Spacey). My guess is that Gosling is somewhere in between, a man with such a fertile mind that lesser actors may not keep up. In this case, he is surrounded by a bunch of pros. Emily Mortimer (Lovely and Amazing, Match Point, and a great recent turn as Alec Baldwin’s fiancée on 30 Rock) has never been better as the chronically empathetic Karin. Paul Schneider (All the Real Girls) complements Mortimer’s high energy and Gosling’s moving target with his own super low-key rhythm. Schneider is simply a guy you know. Patricia Clarkson (Goodnight and Good Luck) doesn’t make mistakes as an actor, so needless to say she is great as the doctor who somehow knows how to handle Lars. Other standouts include film and TV veteran Nancy Beatty as Mrs. Gruner, and quirky Kelli Garner as the girl at work who pines for Lars.

It’s an incredibly dour season of movies, with new releases Rendition, Things We Lost in the Fire, and Gone Baby Gone all debuting (and not faring very well) this weekend alone. Audiences seem to be gravitating to lighter fare. The surprise is that Lars and the Real Girl really is lighter fare. It’s probably the best screenplay of any movie I’ve seen this year. This was a challenging endeavor for all involved, but you can almost sense that everyone knew they were part of something special. When that kind of energy comes off the screen, you know it’s special too.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.