Crazy, Stupid, Love is a 2011 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa,
and written by Dan Fogelman. It stars Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma
Stone, John Carroll Lynch, Marisa Tomei, Analeigh Tipton, and Kevin Bacon. The film was released
in United States and Canada by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 29, 2011.
The film received favorable reviews and was commercially successful. Ryan Gosling received
a Golden Globe nomination for his work in it.
Plot Cal Weaver is a middle-aged man who learns
that his wife Emily cheated on him with a co-worker, David Lindhagen, and that she wants
a divorce. After moving into his own apartment, Cal goes to a bar night after night, talking
loudly about his divorce, until he attracts the attention of a young man named Jacob Palmer
who is a womanizer who beds women each night, although a young woman named Hannah recently
had rejected his advances. Jacob takes pity on Cal, and offers to teach him how to pick
up women. Using Jacob's teachings, Cal seduces Kate at the bar. After this encounter, Cal
manages to successfully seduce other women in the bar. He sees Emily again at their son
Robbie's parent-teacher conference. The interaction goes well until they discover that Robbie's
teacher is Kate, who reveals to Emily that she and Cal slept together. Cal then confesses
to sleeping with many women. Emily leaves in disgust and begins actively dating David.
Meanwhile, Hannah, a recent law school graduate, is expecting her boyfriend, Richard to propose
marriage while they celebrate her passing the bar exam, but he does not, which hurts
Hannah's feelings. Hannah returns to the bar where she originally rejected Jacob's advances
and kisses Jacob passionately. The two return to Jacob's home to have sex, but end up talking
to each other all night and making a connection. Jacob starts a relationship with Hannah, and
he becomes distant from Cal. At the same time, Robbie makes numerous grand
gestures to try to win the heart of his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica Riley, who actually has
a crush on Cal. On the advice of her classmate Madison, she takes naked photos of herself
to send to Cal and tucks them away in an envelope inside her dresser drawer. Later, when Emily
calls Cal under the guise of needing help with the house's pilot light, Cal decides
to try and win her back. Meanwhile, Jacob returns Cal's calls and asks for advice about
starting a real relationship. Jessica's mother, Claire discovers Jessica's naked photos addressed
to Cal in her drawer and shows them to Jessica's father, Bernie. He rushes to the Weaver residence
to confront him about the photos. Cal and his kids create a makeshift mini golf set
in their backyard to remind Emily of their first date. During the gathering, Jacob and
Hannah show up at the house, and Hannah is revealed to be Cal and Emily's first daughter.
Cal is appalled that Jacob is dating his daughter, and forbids her to see him. At that moment,
Bernie shows up and attacks Cal. Jessica arrives and tells her father that Cal knew nothing
of the pictures. Then David arrives on the scene to return Emily's sweater from a previous
date. Cal, Jacob, David, and Bernie then get into a scuffle which is soon broken up by
the police. Cal starts spending his time at the bar again and receives a visit from Jacob,
who confesses that he is in love with Hannah. Cal replies that he is happy that Jacob is
a changed man but cannot approve of Jacob and Hannah's relationship, having seen Jacob's
former lifestyle. Jacob harbors no ill feelings but rather respects Cal and praises him for
being a great father. At Robbie's eighth grade graduation, Robbie
is the Salutatorian and gives a pessimistic speech about how he no longer believes in
true love and soul-mates. Cal stops him and instead begins to recount his courtship with
Emily to the audience, saying that, while he doesn't know if things will work out, he
will never give up on Emily. With renewed faith, Robbie reaffirms his love for Jessica,
to the audience's applause. After the ceremony, Cal gives Jacob and Hannah his blessing. Jessica
gives Robbie an envelope containing the photos of herself to "get him through high school."
Cal and Emily have a laugh talking about the events that have transpired the past year.
Cast Steve Carell as Cal Weaver
Ryan Gosling as Jacob Palmer Julianne Moore as Emily Weaver
Emma Stone as Hannah "Nana" Weaver Analeigh Tipton as Jessica Riley
Jonah Bobo as Robbie Weaver Joey King as Molly Weaver
Karolina Wydra as Jordyn Marisa Tomei as Kate Tafferty
Julianna Guill as Madison John Carroll Lynch as Bernie Riley
Beth Littleford as Claire Riley Kevin Bacon as David Lindhagen
Liza Lapira as Liz Josh Groban as Richard
Crystal Reed as Amy Johnson Richard Steven Horvitz as Hardware Store Assistant
Release Critical response
The review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes lists 78% percent 193 critics giving positive
reviews, with a rating average of 6.9 out of 10. On Metacritic, the film has a rating
of 68/100, indicating "generally favorable". CinemaScore polls reported that the average
grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert gave Crazy, Stupid, Love 3 out of 4 stars and remarked that it "is a sweet
romantic comedy about good-hearted people". A. O. Scott of The New York Times was also
positive and gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating "Crazy, Stupid, Love is, on balance,
remarkably sane and reasonably smart". Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave the
film a 4 out of 5 review as well and said that it "conjures up the bittersweet magic
of first loves, lasting loves, lost loves and all the loves in between".
Some reviewers were less favorable, such as Christy Lemire at the Associated Press, who
wrote that "it never gets crazy or stupid enough to make you truly fall in love with
it", giving the film a 2 out of 4 rating. James Rocchi of MSN Movies was particularly
critical, giving it 1 out of 5 and remarking that it is "a star-studded lump of fantasy
and falsehood". The film was included in TV Guide's "Best Movies of 2011" list.
Box office Crazy, Stupid, Love opened at #5 at the North
American box office on its opening weekend with $19.1 million. It has earned $84.2 million
in the United States and Canada as well as $58.5 million internationally for a worldwide
total of $142.7 million. Accolades
References
External links Official website
Crazy, Stupid, Love. at the Internet Movie Database
Crazy, Stupid, Love. at AllMovie Crazy, Stupid, Love. at Rotten Tomatoes
Crazy, Stupid, Love. at Box Office Mojo