Long-Time Married Couple Decides to Divorce, Emotional Chaos Ensues
In the first scene of Crazy, Stupid, Love, Cal (Steve Carell) and his wife of some 25 years Emily (Julianne Moore) are dining in an upscale restaurant on their regular date night away from the kids. Out of nowhere, Emily blurts out that she wants a divorce. Not only that, but she slept with a guy from her office -- a smarmy accountant named David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon). No sooner have they arrive back home than a shell-shocked Cal -- who actually jumped out of a moving car en route to their upper-class suburban abode rather than have to listen to any more of Emily's confessions -- announces their impending divorce to the 17-year-old babysitter Jessica (former America's Next Top Model contestant Analeigh Tipton) and his 13-year-old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) in a disjointed, rambling monologue and arranges to move out. These early scenes manage to capture the serio-comic tone the filmmakers are clearly striving for throughout, portraying how the emotional pain of a traumatic event like divorce can manifest itself in awkward and uncomfortable humor. But that sense of honesty vanishes as the movie progresses and Cal and Emily get involved in broader, almost sitcom-level situations, whether it's him bedding an emotionally unstable schoolteacher (poor Marisa Tomei, stuck in one of her worst roles ever, but committing to it all the same) or her dalliance with the dull-as-dishwater Lindhagen. In one of the film's worst scene, the two are reduced to screaming at each other outside of their son's school while a crowd of their peers looks on, cringing. We in the audience feel their pain.
Instead of Crazy, Stupid, Love Watch: Kramer Vs. Kramer remains one of the best studio films ever made about divorce, and The War of the Roses serves as a dark, disturbing and very funny portrait of the final days of the world's most toxic marriage.

Husband/Wife Who Hasn't Dated In Years Re-Experiences the Single Life
One of the first places Cal goes after learning that his marriage is kaput is a local watering hole populated by young beauties and the studs that pursue them. One of those studs is Jacob (Ryan Gosling), who takes pity on the old, clearly out-of-his-element guy and decides to remake him in his own image. First up is a major wardrobe change, followed by intensive lessons in singles bar etiquette (always buy the girl a drink right off the bat and make sure the focus of the conversation stays on her) and, finally, a test run. While it's amusing to watch Gosling do his version of Neil Patrick Harris' legend -- wait for it -- dary Barney Stinson routine, there's also something creepy about cheering on his attempts to turn this middle-aged man into a love 'em and leave 'em type, a fact that the movie avoids acknowledging. It doesn't help that it's hard to buy Carell as a Lothario that younger women would flock to, even suited up in nicer clothes.
Instead of Crazy, Stupid, Love Watch: An Unmarried Woman, starring the great Jill Clayburgh as a privileged Upper East Side wife who reinvents herself from the ground up after her stockbroker hubby ditches her for a younger woman.

Oversexed Lothario Finally Meets "The One"
If there's one storyline in Crazy, Stupid, Love that actually comes thisclose to working, it's the sweet romance the develops between Jacob and law student Hannah (Emma Stone) whose sarcasm and general refusal to fall for his transparently cheesy moves knocks him completely off his game. After initially rejecting his advances, she winds up inviting herself over to his bachelor pad when her dorky boyfriend (Josh Groban, in a distractingly amateurish cameo) makes it clear that he doesn't see their relationship going anywhere. Much like the recent Friends With Benefits, the film gets some good comic mileage out of these self-aware characters acknowledging typical rom-com clichés that they swear they aren't going to fall for. As Hannah memorably says, "I know what happens on the PG-13 version of this night. I want the R version." Gosling and Stone prove to be natural foils for each other, her quick wit playing nicely against his placid cool. The film ultimately doesn't do their characters justice -- largely because we never see Jacob having to answer to Hannah for his previous pussyhound ways -- but for much of its runtime, they are the only two people onscreen worth watching.
Instead of Crazy, Stupid, Love Watch: The Barney/Robin arc on Season 4 of How I Met Your Mother. (Yes, that ended badly as well. But the build-up to it remains terrific.)

Impressionable Teenager Falls in Love with an Older Man/Woman
As off-putting as it is to watch Cal successfully become a playa, hands down the film's creepiest story thread follows his son Robbie's stalker-ish fixation on babysitter, Jessica. Despite her repeated protestations that he lay off, the kid won't stop talking about how much he loves her and thinks about her while he's masturbating. (Way to go kid -- that's possibly the worst thing you can say to the girl you want to date.) Meanwhile, Jessica has improbably developed a crush on Cal and seeks advice from a slutty fellow student how to attract an older guy's attention. (Her advice? Nude photos, which, of course, are eventually discovered by Jess' parents, resulting in a whole new batch of complications for both her and the oblivious object of her affection.) The filmmakers desperately want to capture the way kids today think and talk about love and sex but it sounds more like they prepared for the film by just watching a lot of equally forced MTV shows .
Instead of Crazy, Stupid, Love Watch: You can't go wrong with Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby's 1971 classic depicting the romance that grows between a morbid rich kid and the 79-years-young free spirit he meets at a funeral.

It's All Connected
For the first hour or so, it's unclear when or if the film's many storylines will intersect, but then comes the second-act climax where everyone converges on the same location and a few key relationships are revealed. It's a surprising scene, yes, but primarily because the biggest reveal feels like a massive cheat on the filmmakers' part. And then once the secret is out, the film fails to do anything interesting with it, with the characters mostly retreating back to their individual stories. All that build-up requires a much stronger communal payoff.
Instead of Crazy, Stupid, Love Watch: The 2003 Irish crime comedy Intermission remains largely underseen in this country, which is a shame because it's one of the best examples of inter-connected storytelling in recent memory and features great performances by then-rising stars Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy and the always-fab Colm Meaney. It's currently streaming on Netflix, so add it to your queue now.

The Public Apology and Declaration of Love
Easily the worst cliché in any romantic comedy, Crazy, Stupid, Love concludes with a particularly cringe-inducing example of the public apology and declaration of love as Cal hijacks Robbie's speech at his junior-high graduation to lecture the crowd on the importance of "going for it" in love and to apologize to Emily for his narcissism and her... I don't know, terrible taste in men? Instead of booing him, the audience sits politely through his spiel as if they actually find this meltdown charming and inspirational. If this were real life, the cops would be waiting for him as soon as he got off the stage. Sadly it's only a movie. A bad one.
Instead of Crazy, Stupid, Love Watch: Honestly, it's hard to think of any film that does this well, aside from maybe Jerry Maguire. Yes, "You complete me," has been a punchline since at least 1997, but within the context of the movie it still kills.

Check out an interview with Crazy Stupid star Steve Carell.

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