I was really looking forward to seeing Crazy Stupid Love (Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, 2011). I'm not usually a Steve Carell fan (he falls into the Jim Carrey overkill category for me) but I liked all the others in the film. The trailers looked good although I did think they were marketing the film wrong with their television ads. Then word of mouth was pretty good and even though I tend not to trust other people's word on films, I happily hit up Arclight to finally see it. To put it simply, I was not amused.
Now please don't get me wrong. I went into the film with great expectations and for the most part I was happy with what I saw. Every performance was pretty damned good, especially the two super talents Ryan Gosling and Julianne Moore. I liked the choices made for the soundtrack and there were a few moments when I was really impressed with the cinematography. I didn't mind when they wrapped everything up in a neat little bow and I looked past some of the ridiculous things that went down. It didn't bother me that I only laughed 2-3 times in a comedy. The film did everything a romantic comedy is supposed to do. It made me happy, made me feel upbeat and positive about love and it provided me with a glimpse of the ideal that we all are supposed to strive for in our lives. But this is exactly where this film becomes a misogynistic train wreck.
I dare anyone to watch this film and come away with a positive portrayal of a woman. No really, try to find one. Julianne Moore, cheater. Marisa Tomei, sex crazed and out of control. Ashleigh Tipton, misguided and confused, an object. Emma Stone and Liza Lipara, intelligent woman yes but ones who owe their happiness to the hottest guy that speaks to them. And this is where Ryan Gosling comes in.
Jacob Palmer (Gosling) spends his days doing nothing and his nights, well they are a never ending conquest of women. He has a routine to pick up woman and is quite successful. He is magnanimous enough to be willing to help a completely lost guy such as Cal Weaver (Carell) be able to replicate his womanizing success. On top of this, Palmer is a complete jerk. He routinely slaps Cal (please tell me what modern day universe this practice exists on), believes that showering money on material things will bring happiness and generally is an all around great guy. One to be emulated. And here lies the problem.
For the millions of people that will see this film, Jacob Palmer's behavior becomes acceptable. It's okay to womanize as long as you find the "one" and then all is forgiven. It's okay to buy an endless array of useless materialistic things as long as you have a house large enough to fit it all in. It's okay to treat people like garbage as long as your getting them laid. Woman will swoon upon seeing this character because Gosling is a great looking guy and he is ripped to shreds. Guys will see this type of behavior and believe that they need to emulate it. A simple question. Would you ever hang out with someone like Jacob Palmer?
But Jacob is not the only offensive character in this film. Let's talk about Emily Weaver (Moore), Hannah Weaver (Stone), Kate (Tomei) and Liz (Lipara). The Weaver girls have it rough. Emily Weaver is bored with her life (which she chose) and decides she needs to spice it up. So she cheats. Which is something that happens in life but the problem lies in that she immediately gets cast as the bad character within the structure of the narrative. When Cal later sleeps around, there is indignation but the audience sympathizes with him and becomes angry at her for vilifying him. It's a double standard that will always exist in our sexist society but that doesn't mean that it should be further promoted in film.
The other ladies in the film are just as culpable. The character of Kate is portrayed as wildly sexual, aggressive and borderline insane. She cannot deal with things on a mature level, expects men to lie to her and then flips out when they lie. The real issue for this character is that her profession is a teacher. If the adults in the film cannot act maturely, where do the children turn to? As for Hannah and Liz, they forgo all sense of moral stance the second a hot guy (Gosling) pays them attention. They pin their romantic hopes to the guy with the best body, the most money and who will take care of them in life. This is not a great message to display to children.
But the most heinous of offenses in this film lies in a relatively new problem in society, one of children "sexting" each other. The character of Jessica (Ashleigh Tipton) prepares to send presumably nude pictures of herself to Cal (her crush) and then at the films end gives a set to Robbie (Jonah Bobo). The film makes light of her being willing to give these pictures to a man her fathers age but implicitly says it's okay to turn around and give these pictures to a 13 year old boy? I'm sorry, I respect Dan Fogelman for accomplishing what he has in getting his script filmed but the message this sends to children and teens, that it is acceptable to send naked pictures to your friends, is morally reprehensible.
In the end, it is just a film. And like 99% of films made today it will be completely and utterly forgotten by the end of summer. Even so, more care should be made to examine the overall larger message sent by a film, especially one rated PG-13.
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