Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Director:

Craig Gillespie

Writer (WGA):

Nancy Oliver (written by)

Release Date:

25 October 2007 (Singapore)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

The search for true love begins outside the box

Plot:

A delusional young guy strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.

Plot Keywords:

Doll | Internet | Delusion | Sex Doll | Love

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Ryan Gosling	...	Lars Lindstrom
Emily Mortimer	...	Karin
Paul Schneider	...	Gus
R.D. Reid	...	Reverend Bock
Kelli Garner	...	Margo
Nancy Beatty	...	Mrs. Gruner
Doug Lennox	...	Mr. Hofstedtler
Joe Bostick	...	Mr. Shaw
Liz Gordon	...	Mrs. Schindler
Nicky Guadagni	...	Mrs. Petersen
Patricia Clarkson	...	Dagmar
Karen Robinson	...	Cindy
Maxwell McCabe-Lokos	...	Kurt
Billy Parrott	...	Erik
Sally Cahill	...	Deb

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sex-related content.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Canada:14A | Singapore:PG | UK:12A | Italy:T | Germany:o.Al. | Ireland:12A | South Korea:15 | Norway:A | Argentina:Atp | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Australia:PG | France:U | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Alton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment

Trivia:

In the scene where Lars is reading to Bianca, he is reading from "Don Quixote", whose main character also has delusions.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the first dinner with Lars and Bianca, the glass of milk Lars is drinking suddenly appears on the opposite side of his plate when he begins cutting Bianca's food.

Quotes:

Lars Lindstrom:I was talking to Bianca, and she was saying that in her culture they have these rites of passages and rituals and cermonies, and, just all kinds of things that, when you do them, go through them, let you know that you're an adult? Doesn't that sound great?
Gus:It does.
Lars Lindstrom:How'd you know?
Gus:How'd I know what?
Lars Lindstrom:That you were a man
Gus:Ahhh. I couldn't tell ya.
Lars Lindstrom:Was it... okay, was it sex?
Gus:Um. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's uh, yeah, yeah it's kind of - it's uh - no. Well, it's kind of sex but it's not uh, you know? I don't know. I don't know. It's - uh - good question, good question.
Lars Lindstrom:Yeah, but I have to know
Gus:[dryer buzzes] Hold that thought.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "At the Movies: Episode #6.1" (2009)

Soundtrack:

L O V E

Lars Has an Anatomically Correct Girlfriend

Lo and behold, a film that still believes in simple human kindness.

There's been a severe lack of that on our movie and television screens lately, which is why I found "Lars and the Real Girl" utterly irresistible. I imagine this is the kind of movie that's either going to work for you or it's not. I can guarantee that if you go into it and pick apart all the ways in which it's not realistic, you're not going to enjoy it.

Ryan Gosling has rocketed to the top of the list of my favorite contemporary actors. He's given two of the best performances in the last two years: here in "Lars" and last year in "Half Nelson." The success of "Lars and the Real Girl" depends almost entirely on Gosling's ability to sell this character to the audience, and he does so flawlessly. Lars is a sweet teddy bear of a man who also happens to be intensely lonely. He orders a life-size and anatomically correct sex doll and proceeds to make a companion of her, taking her to parties, to church, to family dinners. A psychiatrist (a marvelous, as usual, Patricia Clarkson) tells the family that the best thing they can do for Lars is to encourage his delusion until he works through whatever is causing it; they relay that to the townspeople, who take it to heart. As a result, Lars's "girlfriend" is completely accepted by the town, and even gets elected to the school board.

Ultimately, "Lars" probably isn't very realistic, but isn't it nice to think it could be? That a group of people could be this warm, kind and accepting, simply because they happen to like somebody and want to see him get better. The film is full of wonderful performances from everyone. In addition to Gosling and Clarkson, Emily Mortimer shines as Lars's caring and worried sister-in-law.

It really irritates me that critics were divided on this movie on the basis of it pushing the boundaries of credibility, when they almost unanimously praised "Gone Baby Gone," a film so melodramatic and heavy handed as to be no less implausible, and that goes down as two of the most unpleasant hours I've spent in a movie theatre for a long time. Has our culture now decided that a film about good kind people is too unrealistic to stomach, and that the only movies that ring true are ones about human depravity?

So far, "Lars and the Real Girl" is one of my favorite films of the year.

Grade: A