Not a Movie Snob - Crazy, Stupid, Love

Posted on Monday, August 22, 2011 at 07:00 PM

"Love & Marriage"

Crazy, Stupid, Love

I don't want to be a film snob. I try not to be. I go into every movie, okay, maybe not every movie, but most movies anyway, with an optimistic disposition, expecting to be wowed by the hundreds of people and millions of dollars that have made what is up on the screen in front of me. There are film critics out there that have their handful of films that are their masterpieces and that they consider to be great films. Films that are so great and so huge in scope and execution that very very few films could ever hope to live up to them. They unfairly judge all the films they see against this small handful of perfection and, not surprisingly, end up bitching and complaining about almost every film they see. I don't want to be like that.

I love films and go out of my way to enjoy at least something about every film I watch and if I tell other people about it or write a review on it, I'll be sure to include that something or those somethings to the person along with the stuff I wasn't keen on.

Then films like Crazy, Stupid, Love make things difficult for me. Not that I can't find anything good to say about it, there are lots of good things I could say, and not so much that it's a bad movie in the sense of how it was made or the talent behind it lacking, truth be told, it was made very well, and for every performance that I found below average (Analeigh Tipton), or just down right annoying (Emma Stone, Julianne Moore), there were a bevy of performances that were great (everyone else). The writing's pretty good too, but here's where my problem lies: The film would like you to take it as a sweet natured romantic comedy about people falling in and out of love, mistakes made and lessons learned.

It wants you to think that its message is to fight for who you love and never give up. Very sweet, and admirable, sure, but let's get something straight here: this is a romantic comedy with a good message that roots for love, Hollywood style. That means that if and when adultery occurs, for example, the person who's spouse cheated on them gets blamed almost as much as the cheater! Example: "Yes, I cheated. It was wrong, I shouldn't have done that. But I wouldn't have done that if you hadn't become so boring and predictable." And the spouse that was cheated on, by the end of the film, actually buys this crap! "I'm really mad at you for what you did. But I'm also mad at myself for pushing you to it." This isn't coming from a guy who hits his wife or his kids or mistreats them in any way. He's not a drunk and he doesn't sleep around or spend all his time away from home (though none of that would make adultery okay), he's simply a nice guy whose wife takes a giant shit on him. And then he blames himself. 

Another thing that the movie kept hammering into the audiences head like a pharmaceutical ad for seniors is about soul mates. "She's my soul mate," one character whose wife has cheated on him keeps saying, "so I have to fight for her." This is another something that might be true in Hollywood but probably is no where else. Take it from me: If your wife cheats on you, she is not your soul mate. Is that not obvious? Would a soul mate feel the need or have the desire to cheat on its other half, rather than working out whatever it is that is leading them to stray? Anyway, in this movie, adultery or not, a soul mate is a soul mate.

Another message this movie seems to be sending is if your heart is broken, go find someone to skronk. It doesn't show its characters doing this in a negative, sad fashion, just in a matter of fact, this is the way it is fashion. And the people who don't sleep around? The ones who admit they've only been with one lover? They're looked down on and made fun of, of course.

In the midst of all this sleeping around and these silly notions of what love is, there's a pretty cute story going on and a surprising twist, which is just a little too convenient and unbelievable to really be, well believable, but which provides with the movie with its funniest and most entertaining scene.

I know not everyone shares my views on the topics in this film and if you tend to feel the opposite way that I do, you'll find lots to love in this film and should probably shell out the dough to see it ASAP, if you agree with my views but happen to love the actors in the film or are willing to look past the things I've ranted about here, then see it. But maybe wait until it hits the cheap theatres.

Rating: **