Review: Lars and the Real Girl

Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) is a shy but amiable man yearning for love in a world he has trouble confronting. When he finds the woman of his dreams on the Internet, Lars emerges from his funk and proceeds to introduce his new girlfriend to friends and family. There’s only one problem: His new sweetheart is a life-size, anatomically accurate sex doll, and Lars has convinced himself she’s real. With love and concern, family, friends and other locals resolve to play along while Lars undergoes surreptitious mental evaluations.

In August, I made a prediction about an upcoming film called Lars and the Real Girl. The educated guess was part of a sporadically written column I write called The Preview Review, where I watch new trailers, look at who’s involved and try to speculate as to the film’s commercial and critical success.  Here’s what I had to say about Lars:

Prediction: Lars and the Real Girl will be a simple story with deep, complex characters, awkward comedy, and unconditional familial support.  It will be on par with the fantastic Little Miss Sunshine, but with one great bonus—Ryan Gosling.

Well, I was largely correct in my assertion—not too impressive, admittedly—but I did walk out of the theater with some caveats.  Read the full review after the jump.

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