Crazy, Stupid, Love, starring Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling

Just because you've been in love forever doesn't you'll get any better at it. That's seems to be the message behind Crazy, Stupid, Love, a Love Actually-style romance that should appeal to both youngsters and more mature audiences eager for a break from the explosions and mutant powers. In some ways, this is a film that could be considered the polar opposite of Friends with Benefits. This isn't a story about people desperately trying to avoid love for fear of being hurt. Crazy, Stupid, Love is a funny and honest relationship film about people figuring out how to cope with the emotional toll being in love brings.

A situation that has to be one of the most traumatic in any person's life is played mostly for laughs right at the beginning, as Cal(Steve Carell) is shocked one night when his wife Emily(Julianne Moore, still great, still gorgeous) suddenly announces she wants a divorce. The two have been married since they were teenagers, and Cal is so shell shocked the only thing he can think to do is leap from their moving vehicle. Suddenly single, Cal is one of those poor guys we've all seen at the bar. The guy who was married or in a relationship for far too long, and now has zero idea how to meet women.  He's become comfortable, lazy, wears the wrong clothes, and has no idea how to modulate his sadness meter.

Enter smooth talkin' lothario, Jacob(Ryan Gosling), who seemingly can have his way with any woman he so chooses. He's what Tom Cruise in the 1999 film Magnolia referred to as a "master of the muff". Sick and tired of hearing Cal's woeful pining each and every night, Jacob decides to take Cal under his wing. Quickly sizing him as a guy who somehow lost his man mojo thanks to so many years of domestication, he overhauls Cal's fratboy wardrobe and teaches him how to objectify women in every way imaginable.

Watching the usually mild mannered Gosling as a cocky cliche is one of th film's great joys. He always seems to play these guys who don't know how attractive they are, and in this case he's all too sure. Carell gives one of the most complete performances of his career, right up there with Dan in Real Life. He brings the full arsenal of his talent to bear, both hilarous when called for and terribly poignant in the few scenes he has opposite Moore. One of the few problems I have with the script by Dan Fogelman is that it takes on so many causes that it's simply impossible to give any enough time. We barely get a hint at how the marriage between Cal and Emily worked, although we see it reflected in their reaction to the separation, played beautifully and tearfully by both performers.

Everyone in Cal's circle is either falling in love or falling out of it, making it no easy task for directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa(I Love You, Phillip Morris) to keep track of it all. Jacob of course falls for Hannah(Emma Stone), a law student and the one woman he can't sweep into his bed. While I admit it took a little while to get over her playing a high schooler in Easy A just last, she makes the most out of a role that only offers her a few truly winning moments. In one of the film's most sincere moments, what starts out merely as a hook up between Hannah and Jacob winds up with the two of them in bed actually talking the night away, with us finding out why he is the way he is. I could've used a bit more of that, actually, but only because that scene was so touching.

We're actually treated to a number of moments like that, and I particularly enjoyed the way the tables are turned between the two men. As Jacob's mentoring quickly turns Cal into a stud, it's also Cal's love of his family and the undying desire to be back with the one woman he loves that evolves Jacob as well. This all comes with a few wonky twists that came out of left field(which I won't spoil here), leading to a sitcom clash that nearly goes too far over the top. A subplot involving Cal's son's crush on the babysitter, who happens to have a crush on Cal, is a nice touch, adding to the multi-generational feel.

Crazy, Stupid, Love isn't aiming to be unique. It wants to make you feel something about love, to remember it's ups and downs, to recognize how worth it being in love always is. A perfect film to share with the one you love this or any other weekend.