Lars and The Real Girl (2007)

     I was looking for my final rom-com movie to cap off my sembreak and stumbled upon a movie recommendation for Lars and The Real Girl. I was actually quite intrigued when I found out that Ryan Gosling was playing the lead character Lars and proceeded to watch it. After watching it, I have altogether mixed reactions, but not in a bad way.

     The plot of movie is centered around Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) who is so introverted that he moved in to the garage to avoid human interaction with his brother Gus (Adam Schneider)and sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer). Nevertheless, it is easy to love his character since he’s sweet and adorable (of course, it’s Ryan Gosling). One night, he says to Gus and Karin that he wants to introduce his new girlfriend that he met on the internet. Both are ecstatic on what seems like Lars's progress towards human interaction until they find out that the girlfriend is Bianca, the sex doll that he ordered online. Upon the recommendation of the neighborhood psychologist, Gus and Karin decide to play along with Lars’s delusion and so does the rest of the town.

     What makes Lars and the Real Girl so endearing is that it isn’t raunchy and crude as one would expect with sex toys involved. This movie shows Lars’s sensitivity and sweetness even if his girlfriend is an inanimate object. Also, special mention must be given to the whole community who understood what Lars was going through and never humiliated him and even played along with the whole thing. Karin, Lars’s sister-in-law was very sweet and kind; so is his doctor who helped him through making developments within himself.

     Even if Lars was delusional for having a sex doll girlfriend, he treated her right. One of the moments of the movie that provided some comic relief was when Lars and the sex doll were fighting. It’s quite ridiculous fighting with an inanimate object. The movie really shows how Lars's character eventually gets drawn out into the world even if it is with the help of the fantasy he conjured himself. He realized that while he was so busy being locked up by himself, there were so many people who loved him and were willing to support him in any way.

     What I don’t get at all is before I watched this movie is the description that gave a warning about some “sex-related content.” There was barely any and that made the movie superb, since any kind of sex act or innuendo would ruin the sensitivity of this movie.

     The reason that I had a mixed reaction is because I was expecting a traditional romantic comedy. Lars and the Real Girl was not what I expected at all. In my opinion this movie isn’t even comedic (barely). The thought of this delusion is more concerning than ridiculous. Yes, it’s heartwarming but the thought of his condition is quite serious and disconcerting. Also, I did not find this movie romantic. I only saw subtle traces of romance in this movie with his coworker Margo (Kelli Garner) and a lot with the inanimate sex doll Bianca (although it was sweet and touching, it was not romantic but rather, disturbing). In fact, I found the concept of the whole movie strange but it pulled through wonderfully through strong acting and portrayed emotion.

     That’s my thought on the movie’s wrong genre. Rather than romance and comedy this story is more of support, care and development.  Even if this movie was not what I expected, it was still a welcome change which I really enjoyed. Anyone interested in a heartwarming movie with a nontraditional plot should watch Lars and the Real Girl.