Latest / Nashville Movie Dispatch / Movie Review Rewind, Ep. 57: Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

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Movie Review Rewind, Ep. 57: Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) · Nashville Movie Dispatch

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Speaker 1: Flipping back the calendar to highlight Yesteryear's fine us while
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Speaker 1: exploring the vast archives in cinema history. This is the
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Speaker 1: Movie Review Rewind podcast on Nashville Movie Dispatch. Welcome back
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Speaker 1: for another episode of the movie Review Rewind podcast right
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Speaker 1: here on Nashville Movie Dispatch. I'm your host for the show,
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Speaker 1: the eic at Sobrosnetwork dot com, Big Natural Stony Keeley.
0:47
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Twitter at Stony Keeley. Collectively
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Speaker 1: we are at Sobrosnetwork and all of our work can
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Speaker 1: be found at Nashville Mooviedispatch dot substack dot com.
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Speaker 2: Love is in the air. For our February episode, we
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Speaker 2: are going to be talking about a little a little
1:03
Speaker 2: rom com from twenty eleven called Crazy Stupid Love. I
1:08
Speaker 2: couldn't do this without my partner in crime. Here, my
1:12
Speaker 2: fellow little stinker. If you will, he is a board
1:15
Speaker 2: member of the Music City Film Critics Association. He is
1:19
Speaker 2: a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, and he's
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Speaker 2: our resident film critic here at Nashville Movie Dispatch. Mister
1:26
Speaker 2: big shot himself Brandon Vic Brandon, how you doing today?
1:31
Speaker 3: Not too bad? We got a it's a fine time
1:35
Speaker 3: to be alive it is. I don't yeah, really celebrate
1:39
Speaker 3: Valentine's Day because my son's birthday is two days after. Yeah,
1:43
Speaker 3: but my wife and I didn't really celebrate it before.
1:45
Speaker 3: We would usually go like the week before or the
1:49
Speaker 3: week after, and like we would just maybe go to
1:51
Speaker 3: a restaurant we hadn't been to, and that's about it.
1:53
Speaker 3: I don't remember us really doing gifts or anything. Chocolate's pointless. Well,
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Speaker 3: I don't know if it's acting.
2:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can take you can squeeze some chocolate in.
2:05
Speaker 3: But I mean we are We're in that Oscar season, babe, Yeah,
2:10
Speaker 3: in that Oscar season and Sinners being nominated for Best Picture.
2:17
Speaker 3: It's crazy, just absolutely crazy.
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Speaker 2: I just I can't wait for Tim Robinson to get
2:23
Speaker 2: his first Oscar.
2:24
Speaker 3: Yeah oh yeah, you and me both.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm just I'm so thrilled that he's nominated.
2:29
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, and Josh Brolan Best Supporting Actor for
2:34
Speaker 3: Weapons what how YEA good for him?
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Speaker 2: We are we are breaking news here on the movie
2:41
Speaker 2: review read.
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Speaker 3: And I have no idea if Oscar nominations have even
2:44
Speaker 3: been announced at this recording.
2:47
Speaker 2: At this let's see, it'll be February and yet I
2:49
Speaker 2: don't get at the end of January.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're we should know, we know all of
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Speaker 2: the all the.
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Speaker 3: Okay, well then this all is right? Then all right?
3:01
Speaker 2: So Crazy Stupid Love. If you guys don't remember, which
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Speaker 2: I don't know why I do this. I mean, people,
3:07
Speaker 2: why can you imagine pressing.
3:09
Speaker 3: You go through the synopsis or something? I don't. I mean,
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Speaker 3: I guess maybe if you're of a certain age, maybe
3:14
Speaker 3: twenty eleven does sound old.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll give it a shot in here.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, go ahead.
3:19
Speaker 2: Crazy Stupid Love is a twenty eleven American romantic comedy
3:23
Speaker 2: film directed by Glenn Facara and John Riqua Requa I can't.
3:28
Speaker 3: That sounds right?
3:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, Written by Dan Fogelman and starring an ensemble cast
3:36
Speaker 2: that we will get into. The film follows a series
3:39
Speaker 2: of interconnected love story centered around cal Weaver played by Correll,
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Speaker 2: a recently separated man who learns how to be more
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Speaker 2: romantic and charm women. This to Me is one of
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Speaker 2: my favorite rom coms that I've watched in my lifetime. Yes,
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Speaker 2: it's one of those that I think. There are several
4:01
Speaker 2: things that I do really like about it that we'll
4:03
Speaker 2: get into on this episode. But just off the top
4:06
Speaker 2: of my head, I think I would classify it as
4:08
Speaker 2: one of those films that you can just kind of
4:11
Speaker 2: stop what you're doing whenever it's on TV or you
4:14
Speaker 2: see it or something like that. A clip just you stay.
4:19
Speaker 2: You catch five minutes or so, there's gonna be some
4:22
Speaker 2: sort of either witty banter between the characters, or there's,
4:27
Speaker 2: you know, an oddly heartfelt emotional scene. And it's one
4:31
Speaker 2: of those films that just kind of has that sort
4:33
Speaker 2: of staying power for me. All these years later, you
4:37
Speaker 2: can sit and watch a little bit out of time
4:39
Speaker 2: and it's just as enjoyable today as it was then.
4:42
Speaker 3: I do almost exactly that. I have watched it a
4:46
Speaker 3: few times all the way through, but for the most
4:49
Speaker 3: part I just kind of either pick up wherever it. Yeah,
4:53
Speaker 3: like maybe when I used to have cable, and now
4:56
Speaker 3: it's one like I could put on, especially this time
4:59
Speaker 3: of year, and just I consider it a classic. It's
5:02
Speaker 3: a modern classic. Yeah, yeah, it's what does it not have?
5:08
Speaker 3: I mean, it's got charisma, it's got charm, it's got
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Speaker 3: sex appeal, it's got style, it's got laughs. That cast
5:16
Speaker 3: if you look like it was a good cast. Yeah,
5:20
Speaker 3: but since then, I almost would say it's really become
5:24
Speaker 3: even at like almost an elite ensemble, just because everybody
5:32
Speaker 3: has done great things since then. Some would say but
5:35
Speaker 3: even before, but like the what what I think about
5:39
Speaker 3: is probably not so much like Steve Carell and Julian Moore,
5:44
Speaker 3: which even though you know Julian Moore, I don't think
5:47
Speaker 3: she wasn't an Oscar winner yet.
5:50
Speaker 2: For Steele Alice, I don't. Yeah, I don't know, but
5:53
Speaker 2: I mean.
5:54
Speaker 3: You're talking like Emma Stone to me is the one
5:57
Speaker 3: that really pops, like since then her and Gossling would
6:01
Speaker 3: go on to do La La Land. Yeah, first they
6:03
Speaker 3: did Gangster Squad, but no one talks about that, and
6:07
Speaker 3: she's a two time Oscar winner now.
6:09
Speaker 2: And it's it's kind of wild. Maybe we can we
6:13
Speaker 2: can lead with that, we'll talk it. Well, let's just
6:15
Speaker 2: dive right into this cast, because I don't think it's
6:18
Speaker 2: just it's not one of those things where they just
6:21
Speaker 2: got a bunch of names and they had a good
6:25
Speaker 2: performance and we were all entertained. But this is one
6:29
Speaker 2: of those I would say, it's it's a pretty rare
6:32
Speaker 2: occurrence where you get multiple people in roles that are
6:37
Speaker 2: just absolutely perfect for the role and what they bring
6:42
Speaker 2: to what that character needs to present to the audience. Yes,
6:46
Speaker 2: you can't picture anybody else delivering it. And Steve Carell
6:51
Speaker 2: is a certain sort of downtrodden and a certain sort
6:56
Speaker 2: of vulnerable that I don't know would work with anybody else.
7:00
Speaker 2: And I think Ryan Gosling is that hot shot, charismatic
7:05
Speaker 2: ladies man. The delivery and his look and everything, the
7:11
Speaker 2: total package is just exactly what that role needs. He
7:15
Speaker 2: just don't go ahead.
7:15
Speaker 3: So I was just say, you can't get more of
7:19
Speaker 3: a perfect casting than Ryan Gosling playing this smooth operator
7:25
Speaker 3: where it is no stretch of the imagination that that
7:28
Speaker 3: man can't walk into a bar and pick up basically
7:32
Speaker 3: any woman he wants. But what I like is how
7:38
Speaker 3: I love how Steve Carell can be the steekr I
7:42
Speaker 3: think we kind of associated him with, especially twenty eleven. Sure,
7:46
Speaker 3: but also when he has that makeover, you believe it,
7:51
Speaker 3: like it's not it doesn't look weird on him that
7:55
Speaker 3: he has kind of you know what I mean, And
7:57
Speaker 3: that's a certain kind of actor. It's not just the
8:00
Speaker 3: Steve Carell forty year old virgin anymore.
8:02
Speaker 2: You know, it's not just goofy loser, loser guy.
8:06
Speaker 3: Right and so, but yeah, I mean there's no I mean,
8:10
Speaker 3: you can't have scenes where like Emma Stone, where like
8:13
Speaker 3: she asked him to take you know, ask Goslin to
8:15
Speaker 3: take off his shirt. Like I mean, I'm not saying
8:17
Speaker 3: there's other people that couldn't play that part, but nobody
8:20
Speaker 3: could play it better, I don't think, and be in
8:22
Speaker 3: that in that moment probably one of the I mean
8:29
Speaker 3: sexiest men alive.
8:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll say it, absolutely. And to balance that, I
8:33
Speaker 2: think Emma Stone plays Hannah with a certain sort of
8:37
Speaker 2: innocence that is unique to her, and her performance in
8:43
Speaker 2: this is just I don't know, man like, it's just
8:46
Speaker 2: so it's so good. It's hard for me to imagine
8:50
Speaker 2: anybody else in that role, in anybody else in Gosling's
8:54
Speaker 2: role that gives their relationship a sort of gravity that
8:58
Speaker 2: I think that I think the film it just makes
9:01
Speaker 2: it resonate more.
9:02
Speaker 3: People and it's not. And at the same time, because
9:05
Speaker 3: of this kind I think the way, especially the way
9:08
Speaker 3: celebrity can be, Emma Stone's character also kind of has
9:13
Speaker 3: to be I guess, kind of that anchor because Gosling's
9:18
Speaker 3: character is seems like he's untouchable and that why would
9:22
Speaker 3: Emma Stone's character have any right being with this guy?
9:25
Speaker 3: But that's not but that that never crosses my mind
9:29
Speaker 3: on how she got him, you know, but there's this
9:32
Speaker 3: there is there's innocence, and there's this honesty about her
9:36
Speaker 3: that he's not used to. And I don't think that
9:38
Speaker 3: he's something he's even really encountered or maybe cared about. Yeah,
9:42
Speaker 3: he's obviously honest, because that's he gets Steve Carrell, but
9:46
Speaker 3: not not when he's playing the the female game of
9:51
Speaker 3: you know what he's been doing and kind of you know,
9:53
Speaker 3: the not heart throb what do they call it? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
10:00
Speaker 3: ladies man. Yeah. So, And I always thought that there's
10:05
Speaker 3: a nice balance in there where nothing ever really seems
10:09
Speaker 3: so far fetched that you're like this is stupid.
10:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, And with Julian Moore and her character like that
10:17
Speaker 2: that role, with what she's going through, like you need
10:21
Speaker 2: somebody that can convey that deep sense of pain where
10:26
Speaker 2: like if you've ever been through a really bad breakup,
10:29
Speaker 2: or you've you've ever felt that sort of you've been
10:33
Speaker 2: through a divorce or or anything like that, you know,
10:37
Speaker 2: like you're walking around all day on thin ice, you're
10:40
Speaker 2: walking on eggshells, where that emotion, that heartbreak, that pain
10:44
Speaker 2: can break through at any moment if somebody just says
10:47
Speaker 2: the right word. Yeah, I thought. Julian Moore, who is
10:51
Speaker 2: so incredibly talented she is, played the role of Emily
10:56
Speaker 2: Weaver with that sort of I don't I don't know,
11:00
Speaker 2: vulnerability is the right word, that sort of weakness where
11:06
Speaker 2: you can see she's really going through it. And I
11:09
Speaker 2: think the thing that ties all of the the four
11:13
Speaker 2: main characters here together and specifically the performances of the
11:17
Speaker 2: actors that portray them, is that they're all sort of
11:21
Speaker 2: transformative roles, where over the course of the film, we
11:25
Speaker 2: see Steve Carell's cal go from like you know, dad
11:30
Speaker 2: to playboy, and we see Jacob going from playboy to
11:35
Speaker 2: he wants to be more like the dad that Steve
11:37
Speaker 2: Carell is. And with Emily we see like this sort
11:41
Speaker 2: of midlife crisis to coming back around to just like
11:46
Speaker 2: wanting to understand what's going on and wanting things to work.
11:50
Speaker 2: And even with Hannah, we see this like innocent girl
11:54
Speaker 2: that you know wants to prove that she can be
11:57
Speaker 2: a bad girl. And you know she can just go
12:00
Speaker 2: bang somebody and have a one night stand. But then
12:03
Speaker 2: ultimately they all just kind of end up back together.
12:07
Speaker 2: And I think it's it's it's not only a testament
12:10
Speaker 2: to the range of the four actors that we've discussed
12:13
Speaker 2: so far, but the writing of this story to to
12:17
Speaker 2: get everybody back to a place where it's just it's
12:20
Speaker 2: just love that brings them together was so well done.
12:23
Speaker 2: It's so well executed, so well written, so well acted.
12:27
Speaker 2: It's a surprise for the genre to me.
12:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, because it's it's it's very it's very sharp
12:34
Speaker 3: and smart in what it's doing with all these different characters.
12:37
Speaker 3: Because keep in mind, you still have the Steve Carrell's
12:40
Speaker 3: son who's kind of going through a really good caring
12:43
Speaker 3: age angst, and then the girl that he likes, but
12:46
Speaker 3: then she, you know, has takes a liking to the
12:49
Speaker 3: older man who is Steve Carrell, and of course the
12:51
Speaker 3: pictures and that gets you know, her parents involved. Who
12:56
Speaker 3: one of his parents is that John Carrol Lynch, who
12:58
Speaker 3: is always great. He's so if anybody saw Sorry Baby
13:02
Speaker 3: last year, he's only in it for like five minutes.
13:04
Speaker 3: But I would say it's one of probably the most
13:07
Speaker 3: effective scenes in the whole thing. But but I think
13:12
Speaker 3: as you kind of like focus on like the four
13:15
Speaker 3: or four main characters and then kind of like how
13:18
Speaker 3: it kind of sprouts in these different ways where you know,
13:21
Speaker 3: which also shout out to Josh Grobin because he's actually
13:24
Speaker 3: it's a jumps, yes, but he's hilarious, especially at dinner.
13:28
Speaker 3: But it is the importance of connection. And there's different
13:32
Speaker 3: kinds of connection that's happening, but none of them are
13:35
Speaker 3: quite pure or broken and so well.
13:38
Speaker 2: I mean, you didn't even mention like Kevin Bacon's character.
13:40
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, if you're gonna cheat on somebody,
13:43
Speaker 3: you better make sure it's someone like Kevin Bacon at
13:45
Speaker 3: least I could understand. But you know, to Julian Moore's performance,
13:52
Speaker 3: that character could have been easy to hate because you,
13:55
Speaker 3: Steve Carell didn't do anything wrong but you. But like
13:59
Speaker 3: you said, she's able to portray this kind of pain
14:02
Speaker 3: that I think when you are in a loving marriage
14:06
Speaker 3: and a lasting marriage, but then there is this thing
14:09
Speaker 3: of like is the love gone? Have you taken each
14:12
Speaker 3: other for granted? I mean, you know you could feel
14:14
Speaker 3: it in five years, you can feel it in thirty years. Yeah,
14:17
Speaker 3: but there, but there's there's this understanding, I think, and
14:21
Speaker 3: I think it does kind of go back to the
14:24
Speaker 3: writing where there's something you can see yourself in all
14:29
Speaker 3: these characters, shades at least of them, even if you
14:34
Speaker 3: you know you you kind of are like Steve Krele,
14:36
Speaker 3: you want to be like Ryan Gosling. But then as
14:38
Speaker 3: you watch it, it's like, that's not what like, that's
14:42
Speaker 3: not what you think that life is. And Gosling, who
14:45
Speaker 3: is perfect to demonstrate that, shows you that he it's
14:49
Speaker 3: you know, like when they stay up all night talking,
14:52
Speaker 3: that's a great that's a great sequence of I mean
14:55
Speaker 3: it's yeah.
14:56
Speaker 2: So and through him you kind of learn like, well,
15:00
Speaker 2: cal Weaver probably has it all figured out to begin
15:03
Speaker 2: with before the divorce, like with just the normal family life, right,
15:07
Speaker 2: you kind of learned throughout the course of the movie,
15:09
Speaker 2: like that's kind of what Jacob really wants, and he's
15:13
Speaker 2: doing all this to fill a hole that he's never
15:16
Speaker 2: going to fill with the activity that right engage.
15:19
Speaker 3: And I think that on the flip side of something
15:22
Speaker 3: that Jacob clearly wouldn't understand because he's never been there.
15:26
Speaker 3: But you know, Steve Carell kind of had to be
15:31
Speaker 3: shaken a little bit. Yeah, be like, hey, you know what,
15:34
Speaker 3: there's things I should we should have done, and obviously
15:38
Speaker 3: Joy and more just from the cheating, I spect, obviously
15:40
Speaker 3: there's things that she regrets. But it does kind of
15:43
Speaker 3: reflect on like, well, you know, have we been giving
15:47
Speaker 3: it enough? TLC? Like why is that? And you know,
15:51
Speaker 3: when you're when you're more grown up and especially when
15:54
Speaker 3: you get married, you that that's true, that's true in
15:59
Speaker 3: all aspects of a relationship. Yeah, and again I think
16:04
Speaker 3: that's why it's just so it's just so cleverly written
16:08
Speaker 3: and done. But then yeah, there I can't. This is
16:11
Speaker 3: one of those movies, especially within this genre, where man,
16:15
Speaker 3: that casting just I mean, I mean, what better, I mean,
16:19
Speaker 3: what more could you wish for? And now you look back, right,
16:22
Speaker 3: so it's been what almost fifteen.
16:24
Speaker 2: Years fifteen fifteen years this July, so yeah.
16:28
Speaker 3: And look, I mean and look at that talent. I mean,
16:31
Speaker 3: none of them have gone away and certainly I mean
16:34
Speaker 3: but even then, also I did look Joyan Moore still
16:37
Speaker 3: Alice was in twenty fourteen, so and she watched also
16:40
Speaker 3: yeah after but Emma Stone, I mean, they're all great,
16:44
Speaker 3: but I will tell you Emma Stone. Ryan Gosling has
16:49
Speaker 3: had some big movies and he has uh what project
16:51
Speaker 3: el Mary coming out next month. But Emma Stone has
16:56
Speaker 3: just really like No and La La Land, which was
17:01
Speaker 3: great and Ryan Gosling was great in and that's when
17:04
Speaker 3: she won her first one. I still think one of
17:06
Speaker 3: her greatest performances is in Poor Things. I loved it.
17:11
Speaker 3: I wish she was I liked her in it. I
17:13
Speaker 3: wish there was more to it. But you know, she
17:17
Speaker 3: was in with Ariaster. She loves the director of Poor Things.
17:22
Speaker 3: I can never quite say his name, but he but
17:25
Speaker 3: she does stuff with him all the time.
17:28
Speaker 2: Crazy stupid Love was twenty eleven. Then she would She's
17:32
Speaker 2: in the Help Gangster Squad. She was in movie forty three.
17:36
Speaker 2: I don't remember that. Well, that's oh she's in Birdman.
17:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, she got nominated for that too.
17:44
Speaker 2: Yeah. La La Land the favorite. I never saw that one.
17:49
Speaker 3: That's the but the same director we did.
17:51
Speaker 2: We didn't even mention Cruella.
17:55
Speaker 3: Hey, she's great in that. I like that one.
17:57
Speaker 2: Eddington. Yeah, I didn't see kinds of Kindness, but it's
18:01
Speaker 2: it was it was another yours flip. Yeah, I mean
18:06
Speaker 2: that's a that's a run. You know this is, but you.
18:09
Speaker 3: See where it kind of changes after after this, she
18:12
Speaker 3: doesn't really come back to this genre.
18:14
Speaker 2: No, And good for her. Well, I mean she does
18:17
Speaker 2: do some crudes movies, they're not kid movies, so.
18:24
Speaker 3: But yeah, I just I mean, how do you get
18:26
Speaker 3: those stars to align just right to do.
18:30
Speaker 2: To do it?
18:31
Speaker 3: But I think it's because they saw, like there's no
18:34
Speaker 3: character that really kind of gets left no on the side.
18:38
Speaker 2: No. And and like even the supporting actors like Kevin
18:42
Speaker 2: Bacon and Marisitilmate, they nail those les. They helped prop
18:46
Speaker 2: the story up too. And eventually, to borrow a term
18:49
Speaker 2: from the wrestling world, they're putting over our main eventers
18:52
Speaker 2: in a lot of these scenes. And it just, man,
18:55
Speaker 2: I didn't realize it until this most recent rewatch, Like
18:59
Speaker 2: you're talking about what these actors would go on and
19:01
Speaker 2: do after this movie, but it it really does kind
19:05
Speaker 2: of feel I don't think I appreciate it at the time,
19:07
Speaker 2: but it feels like one of those lightning in a
19:09
Speaker 2: bottle performances where you got a bunch of talented people
19:14
Speaker 2: together and you got their a games.
19:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and you probably can't afford them now not
19:20
Speaker 3: all of them.
19:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, not all of them that too. So really to me,
19:26
Speaker 2: the cast, the performances, and the writing are really what
19:31
Speaker 2: make this such a memorable film that really touches on
19:36
Speaker 2: a subject matter that is done I mean ad nauseum
19:40
Speaker 2: in the movies, oh yeah, but does it in a
19:43
Speaker 2: pretty unique way with a smart story.
19:46
Speaker 3: It's sophisticated and in ways that I don't really think
19:51
Speaker 3: the genre well, I know, the genre is not really
19:53
Speaker 3: known for.
19:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh well, let's and let's talk about it. Yeah again,
19:57
Speaker 2: I don't know why you're listening to this podcast if
19:59
Speaker 2: you haven't seen this movie, but I'll give you a
20:02
Speaker 2: warning as well, spoilers coming. I don't think you can
20:07
Speaker 2: talk about this movie without talking about the twist, because
20:10
Speaker 2: it is. It is one of the sharpest, smartest things.
20:14
Speaker 3: But it never even dawned on me. And I think,
20:16
Speaker 3: and I will say, the name, yeah, the name of
20:20
Speaker 3: what they call in the Stone and what you know.
20:23
Speaker 3: The character, as I think, is a very direct like, well,
20:26
Speaker 3: how the how would I ever think about that?
20:29
Speaker 2: And they do a great job in writing Hannah Weaver
20:34
Speaker 2: to it appears as though the purpose she serves to
20:38
Speaker 2: the story is to be the force that kind of
20:41
Speaker 2: grounds Gosling's Jacob, right, and so you're watching this just
20:45
Speaker 2: thinking that's why she's in this movie. Well it's like
20:48
Speaker 2: they leave that nugget out right, like just that one
20:53
Speaker 2: little piece of information that she's actually cal and Emily's daughter, But.
20:57
Speaker 3: It changes the whole damn thing.
21:00
Speaker 2: He walks through that door at that party and their
21:02
Speaker 2: eyes meet. I mean, that is the first thing I
21:05
Speaker 2: think about when I when I think about this movie, I.
21:07
Speaker 3: Think, I, one, it is hilarious, but two it is
21:11
Speaker 3: in a in a like in a delightful way. It's
21:14
Speaker 3: quite shocking. It is because you're like.
21:17
Speaker 2: Oh, it feels like yeah, yeah, why are.
21:22
Speaker 3: They Like you're almost you're caught off guard because you're like, well,
21:25
Speaker 3: what are they doing here?
21:27
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't I know, this is pressure off
21:30
Speaker 2: the top of our heads here, but I can't think
21:32
Speaker 2: of another film from this genre that has like a
21:35
Speaker 2: twist like that.
21:36
Speaker 3: Not only can I not think of one and one
21:39
Speaker 3: that like you actually don't see coming because there's a
21:41
Speaker 3: lot where you're you're way ahead of of where the
21:45
Speaker 3: story is going to take you. But but no, but
21:48
Speaker 3: you know what, and even if it wasn't it would
21:50
Speaker 3: still be a great movie, but the fact that they
21:53
Speaker 3: brought all that together and then you realize Hannah was
21:58
Speaker 3: that piece of why has Steve Carell been doing this,
22:02
Speaker 3: who's been helping them, what's been who's been changing gossling?
22:07
Speaker 3: And then come to find out that's their and you know,
22:10
Speaker 3: and and they mention their daughter, but it's because of
22:14
Speaker 3: the nickname, Like it's not like they don't talk it
22:16
Speaker 3: that they have another kid, but you're not like you
22:20
Speaker 3: But then like rewatching it, I guess there are parts
22:24
Speaker 3: where you're like, well, I guess that could have maybe
22:28
Speaker 3: kind of told you a little bit, but not not really.
22:33
Speaker 3: I mean, because like I said, I mean, even if
22:36
Speaker 3: they were like, well, you know h or you know,
22:40
Speaker 3: if it's something even sounded like Hannah, you'd be like
22:42
Speaker 3: wait a minute. But it just never crosses your mind.
22:46
Speaker 3: And you do think you're kind of seeing different like
22:50
Speaker 3: parts like Ryan Goss and Steve Carrell are the connection,
22:54
Speaker 3: and then look at how their lives are different and
22:56
Speaker 3: look how they're changing, all while not knowing like, oh
23:00
Speaker 3: my god, it's in the family.
23:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. That that and then John Carroll Lynch's Bernie shows up.
23:09
Speaker 2: Kevin Babers up and it's so it's so over the top,
23:15
Speaker 2: but I did. I did catch myself thinking this time
23:18
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask you this because it didn't really
23:20
Speaker 2: dawn on me until my most recent rewatch that I
23:26
Speaker 2: like lose track of virtually everything that comes after that scene.
23:31
Speaker 2: And I think the ending is the one thing to
23:34
Speaker 2: me that keeps this from being like my favorite rom
23:39
Speaker 2: com of all time, like a five star. Yeah, I
23:44
Speaker 2: mean for one, like some some official with the school
23:48
Speaker 2: should have gone up there and been like, get off
23:49
Speaker 2: the fucking stay. Yeah, this is this is fucking crazy. Yeah,
23:53
Speaker 2: but it does go. Man, it goes to great links
23:57
Speaker 2: to really wrap up all the loose ends nice and eat.
24:01
Speaker 2: It's you know, Jacob gets Col's blessing, Cal and Emily
24:05
Speaker 2: are talking again, the Sun and the babysitter have their moment,
24:09
Speaker 2: and it.
24:10
Speaker 3: Is well, she gives them the pictures.
24:12
Speaker 2: But I think that was so I'm just curious how
24:16
Speaker 2: you feel about that, because for me, it kind of
24:20
Speaker 2: dawned on me like, oh yeah, like I I have
24:23
Speaker 2: seen this movie a million times. I could not I
24:26
Speaker 2: could not have told you. I could not have told
24:28
Speaker 2: you before my most recent rewatch how it actually ended.
24:32
Speaker 2: All I could tell you was the twist and that
24:34
Speaker 2: scene in the backyard where things boil over, and that's
24:37
Speaker 2: where to me, I'm like, man, I love this movie,
24:40
Speaker 2: but I don't know if they really they landed the plane. Yeah,
24:44
Speaker 2: but it's almost a little too nice and neat for me.
24:47
Speaker 3: I I'll be honest. I wasn't. I wasn't really too
24:50
Speaker 3: bothered by it. Well, and I think part of it
24:53
Speaker 3: is I don't think it's enough for me to, you know,
24:56
Speaker 3: be like, well, dang.
24:58
Speaker 2: I wish we almost had it.
25:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I don't think like and I I don't
25:03
Speaker 3: think you're saying this either, but like they I don't
25:05
Speaker 3: think they screwed it up. No, but I guess because
25:10
Speaker 3: within the genre, I kind of figured, well, we got
25:14
Speaker 3: we have, so we gotta we're gonna bring it back
25:17
Speaker 3: to something. But what this is what I like, I
25:21
Speaker 3: agree in real life he would have probably never even
25:23
Speaker 3: made it to the stage or someone like more than
25:24
Speaker 3: a couple of parents would have been.
25:26
Speaker 2: Like, hey buddy, Hey, yeah, can you can sit down.
25:33
Speaker 3: It's Steve Carell's sincerity and kind of his confession that
25:41
Speaker 3: it wins me over. So I just I don't. I
25:44
Speaker 3: I was I was fine with it.
25:47
Speaker 2: So I think the question, then, the bigger picture question
25:51
Speaker 2: that that feeling for me would would pose is a
25:57
Speaker 2: question of expectations and the function of the genre. Yeah,
26:01
Speaker 2: because it looks nice and neat, and maybe that takes
26:05
Speaker 2: away from you know, some really sad, profound ending that
26:10
Speaker 2: just sticks with you and you can't shake it. Four
26:14
Speaker 2: to yeah do this Yeah, so like you have to
26:18
Speaker 2: kind of look at it through that lens. And that's
26:21
Speaker 2: where I think, you know, I don't really have a
26:23
Speaker 2: problem with it because I don't think it's the job
26:26
Speaker 2: of the rom com to have you questioning, you know,
26:31
Speaker 2: the the existence of humans, you know, like right, the
26:35
Speaker 2: purpose of life, so to speak. It is sort of
26:39
Speaker 2: to make you feel good, to be an enjoyable flick,
26:42
Speaker 2: and that makes it it makes it a little hard
26:45
Speaker 2: for me to be hard on this film.
26:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that because, I mean, you are
26:50
Speaker 3: still talking about a mainstream rom com that came out
26:54
Speaker 3: in the middle of summer. Yeah, so, but there is
26:58
Speaker 3: still a fairy tale essence of it all.
27:00
Speaker 2: Yeah.
27:01
Speaker 3: And while this is like really kind of blows expectations
27:06
Speaker 3: out as far as what you could have in the
27:09
Speaker 3: drum with, you know, especially in the confines of the genre,
27:12
Speaker 3: but you still kind of need that. I think because
27:18
Speaker 3: of the approach and the overall execution of it all,
27:24
Speaker 3: I don't I guess I never really saw it ending
27:27
Speaker 3: in it like, I mean, not exactly, but I figured
27:30
Speaker 3: we're gonna find a way. But most of the movie,
27:36
Speaker 3: what I really give it credit for, and I think
27:38
Speaker 3: that's why I don't mind for them coming back at
27:40
Speaker 3: the end, is that most of the movie, especially with
27:44
Speaker 3: how we started with the Weavers breaking up, is is
27:50
Speaker 3: that they're slowly like they still have these interactions and
27:53
Speaker 3: they're not like it's not real better or angry and
27:59
Speaker 3: you know, and to me that that's real life where
28:02
Speaker 3: you don't just stop loving that part like that's impossible.
28:06
Speaker 3: And so I felt like at the end, because they
28:08
Speaker 3: have had these interactions, and especially after the whole beatdown,
28:13
Speaker 3: you're like, well, yeah, I mean, I guess to me,
28:17
Speaker 3: some shit does puts things in perspective. So if you're
28:21
Speaker 3: gonna stand up in front of everybody, that's that's I mean,
28:25
Speaker 3: in rom com world, that's that's how you do it.
28:28
Speaker 2: I think I think they could have easily taken it
28:30
Speaker 2: a step too far. Had Calan Emily kissed at the end,
28:33
Speaker 2: but instead the thing that I liked about the ending
28:37
Speaker 2: is that you see them talking, They're both smiling, and
28:41
Speaker 2: you get the perspective of the son who sees it happening,
28:45
Speaker 2: and this whole message of you know, your your one
28:48
Speaker 2: fight for your one true love, and that sort of
28:50
Speaker 2: thing that we hear throughout the film. They think he
28:52
Speaker 2: gave up, that his faith in that belief has been
28:57
Speaker 2: broken over the course of the film, but that final
29:01
Speaker 2: scene where he sees it between his mom and dad
29:05
Speaker 2: coming back, it kind of lights that fire within him again.
29:09
Speaker 2: And I think that is kind of a bit of
29:12
Speaker 2: a profound moment if you stop and think about it,
29:14
Speaker 2: where it is like, okay.
29:16
Speaker 3: Well and what does that mean for a teenager? Yeah,
29:18
Speaker 3: to see that and especially to come from there was
29:22
Speaker 3: devastation that you know, mom cheated on dad and everything else.
29:27
Speaker 3: So I really thought that was a very sweet moment,
29:32
Speaker 3: and they didn't have to kiss, but you can see
29:34
Speaker 3: that there is that the love never actually went away.
29:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. Critics have been, you know, hard on the ending
29:44
Speaker 2: of this film. There was also a general theme I
29:47
Speaker 2: picked up on reading through some of the reviews, Like
29:51
Speaker 2: critics said it wasn't crazy or stupid enough, And I'm I.
29:58
Speaker 3: Don't think it means that people should be crazier.
30:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know.
30:02
Speaker 3: They misread the title.
30:04
Speaker 2: Well they they're like, well, it's called crazy, and it's
30:07
Speaker 2: it's called crazy stupid love, and it never really gets
30:10
Speaker 2: to a crazy or stupid point.
30:12
Speaker 3: First of all, it is a little crazy when they
30:14
Speaker 3: find me, and I'm like, but it sounds like you
30:16
Speaker 3: want it to be crazy stupid people in love.
30:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm like, like, are like midlife cris crises and
30:25
Speaker 2: affairs and you know.
30:27
Speaker 3: I'd say a lot of stuff is crazy and kind
30:29
Speaker 3: of stupid.
30:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like the babysitter has a crush on the dad,
30:33
Speaker 2: and the son has a crush on the babysitter, and.
30:35
Speaker 3: The father finds the photo, so now he's gonna go, yeah,
30:38
Speaker 3: beat him up.
30:39
Speaker 2: I mean it it feels like it gets pretty crazy
30:42
Speaker 2: to me, So I don't know, you know, people kind
30:45
Speaker 2: of dumb. Some critics kind of panned it as like, oh,
30:48
Speaker 2: it's just a rom com, and I'm like, I that
30:50
Speaker 2: goes back to my point about like, what were you
30:53
Speaker 2: expecting this to be? I don't think the trailer.
30:56
Speaker 3: Just like expecting something worse than or like if.
31:00
Speaker 2: You if you look back at the time, it's twenty eleven, Like,
31:03
Speaker 2: were you expecting a raunchy Steve Carell comedy. Yeah yeah,
31:07
Speaker 2: I mean I don't know. And in the Stone at
31:09
Speaker 2: the time, like she had been in some some romantic
31:12
Speaker 2: comedies that were kind of un was probably the big one. Yeah,
31:16
Speaker 2: So so like were your expectations just all know, I
31:19
Speaker 2: don't know.
31:20
Speaker 3: I don't think. I feel like the trailer was not like, yeah,
31:23
Speaker 3: that's what it was, Like, I don't.
31:25
Speaker 2: I should have gone back and watched the trailer. That's
31:27
Speaker 2: a that's a good point, but.
31:29
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure it wasn't. I'm pretty sure as a
31:32
Speaker 3: mainstream wrong trailer, you can you can pretty people.
31:36
Speaker 2: You can make a pretty good argument that the ending
31:39
Speaker 2: is a hindrance to the film. And I can see
31:42
Speaker 2: your perspective on that. You lose me when you say
31:45
Speaker 2: it wasn't crazy or stupid.
31:47
Speaker 3: Right as if like they didn't understand.
31:49
Speaker 2: I think it hurts the movie if they do anything
31:52
Speaker 2: other than what they did with the characters, Like it's
31:55
Speaker 2: it's the right amount of crazy and stupid to me.
31:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like that, like they want like like
32:01
Speaker 3: a you know, like the jerk or something like to me,
32:06
Speaker 3: I don't think you would get I don't think you would.
32:09
Speaker 3: I don't think you would get that cast if you
32:11
Speaker 3: went that route. Yeah, I think they would all say, oh, well,
32:13
Speaker 3: I've seen this before, Like what's the point.
32:16
Speaker 2: From a technical aspect, I thought there were some really
32:20
Speaker 2: good shots in this. I thought there was some really
32:22
Speaker 2: good use of color. There's some vibrant colors bars. Yeah,
32:26
Speaker 2: when they need to kind of put across a certain vibe.
32:30
Speaker 2: I thought it was really effective. The scene with the
32:33
Speaker 2: dirty dancing bits.
32:35
Speaker 3: That's what comes to my mind.
32:37
Speaker 2: That is fantastic work. Like is this, you know, the
32:42
Speaker 2: most beautiful film of all time? No, probably not, but
32:45
Speaker 2: I think I think it's something that when we talk
32:49
Speaker 2: about this movie, I think there are technical aspects of
32:51
Speaker 2: it that deserve a little more love than it gets
32:54
Speaker 2: because we're so busy talking about the cast and the story.
32:57
Speaker 3: Well, and there's so much appeal just in Jim, like,
33:00
Speaker 3: I mean, you have these actors and you know there,
33:02
Speaker 3: I mean there's been a lot of thought behind. I
33:05
Speaker 3: mean part of the movie is about the style of
33:08
Speaker 3: these individuals. So the fact that like, yeah, you're gonna
33:12
Speaker 3: make you're gonna make some things. You're gonna make their
33:15
Speaker 3: environment look attractive because that you know, like you know,
33:21
Speaker 3: you can't have Steve Carell going through all this and
33:23
Speaker 3: then just like you know, walking to a Denny's and like,
33:26
Speaker 3: oh well shit, never mind.
33:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, did you have before we wrap things up here?
33:32
Speaker 2: Did you have any favorite like quotes or scenes or
33:36
Speaker 2: anything in particular.
33:37
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm sure, I I'm not sure about quotes,
33:41
Speaker 3: even though there is one about where they kind of
33:45
Speaker 3: first meet and Steve Carell won't shut up about Kevin Bacon. Yeah,
33:49
Speaker 3: and I like, I like that one and he says
33:55
Speaker 3: something when they're sitting about it's about I wish I
34:01
Speaker 3: could remember, but they're sitting that they're they're sitting at
34:03
Speaker 3: the bar. He's like, yeah, I heard you go over there.
34:05
Speaker 3: He's like, yeah, you talked about and he says his
34:07
Speaker 3: name and stuff, and then he's like, well that was hurtful,
34:11
Speaker 3: Like he's Ryan Gosling is brutally honest with him about something.
34:15
Speaker 2: Are you thinking of the scene where Ryan Gosling says
34:20
Speaker 2: something about she was into you when he's trying on
34:22
Speaker 2: the clothes and he says to her, there's that one
34:27
Speaker 2: he says, you see what you did there? Cal you
34:30
Speaker 2: had her, she wanted to sleep with you, and then
34:32
Speaker 2: you opened your mouth, and he goes, that's the meanest thing.
34:35
Speaker 2: Every Okay's ever said that one.
34:37
Speaker 3: But there's one, I think on their first meeting where
34:40
Speaker 3: he calls him over and he sits down and he's like, yeah,
34:44
Speaker 3: He's like, everyone in the bar could hear you talk
34:46
Speaker 3: about that?
34:48
Speaker 2: Like?
34:49
Speaker 3: What what's Kevin Began's name?
34:51
Speaker 2: David Lindaugan.
34:52
Speaker 3: Yes, But I like when John Carol Lynch comes by
34:58
Speaker 3: and acts like they're fine, but then basically he says,
35:02
Speaker 3: his wife told him, you kid, damn anymore? Are with me?
35:07
Speaker 2: Yeah?
35:07
Speaker 3: So I like sometimes it's funny, and I think, especially
35:12
Speaker 3: at the age I'm at, is just watching middle aged
35:15
Speaker 3: men still like be the children that we are. I
35:21
Speaker 3: like that one. I liked Josh Grobe and that dinner
35:24
Speaker 3: scene where she likes it's so ridiculous, but I I
35:28
Speaker 3: love that scene. I think about that one almost as
35:32
Speaker 3: much as probably maybe the dirty dancing in the Twist.
35:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will say this, I I think I saw
35:40
Speaker 2: this movie in twenty eleven, and I don't think i've
35:45
Speaker 2: I don't think I've had a straw in my cocktail.
35:46
Speaker 3: Since that's what that was. The That was the comment
35:50
Speaker 3: where it looks like something is yes, schmot, that's it.
35:56
Speaker 3: That's what I was thinking of. I'm like, he says
35:58
Speaker 3: something yeah about the drink because I remember Steve Grell's
36:03
Speaker 3: character with that pink drink and giving that stroll in
36:06
Speaker 3: his mouth. That's what it was.
36:09
Speaker 2: Yes, I think I think to wrap this one up,
36:15
Speaker 2: it's a.
36:16
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, can I do one more? Sit in this this?
36:18
Speaker 3: I only remember it because I just thought, man that
36:21
Speaker 3: that would probably actually in real life be messy. But
36:23
Speaker 3: he's talking to Gosling's talking to Steve Carell, and you know,
36:28
Speaker 3: he's like deck to the nines, right, but he's eating
36:33
Speaker 3: this greasy piece of pizza at the mall, and I'm like,
36:38
Speaker 3: that has to be like, couldn't do it? Something is
36:42
Speaker 3: going to fall in that suit.
36:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, couldn't do it. Couldn't.
36:44
Speaker 3: But you know, but you know who makes it look
36:46
Speaker 3: so freaking cool, Ryan Gosling.
36:49
Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, I think this is a good story. Uh,
36:54
Speaker 2: A stellar cast that executes upon its vision perfectly. I
36:59
Speaker 2: think the matter this movie, I think what makes it
37:02
Speaker 2: good such a good romantic film, especially for Valentine's Day,
37:07
Speaker 2: a date night in movie night. Yeah, that sort of
37:09
Speaker 2: thing is just how how many different varieties of love
37:14
Speaker 2: this film covers. It is like young love you're in
37:18
Speaker 2: you're a teenager, you're growing up and you're romanticizing relationship
37:24
Speaker 2: and you're dealing with the rejection of not getting that.
37:29
Speaker 2: It's old love. It is you know what you do
37:34
Speaker 2: down the road, years decades down the road when things
37:37
Speaker 2: get tough, how do you navigate those waters? It's lost love,
37:41
Speaker 2: it's you know what you had and now it's gone.
37:45
Speaker 2: It is transformative love, the type that makes you feel
37:49
Speaker 2: like you're a completely different person and you want to
37:52
Speaker 2: stop behaving the way you were because you care for
37:55
Speaker 2: this person so much. And I thought it was such
37:58
Speaker 2: a good celebration of all those different types of love that.
38:04
Speaker 3: Well, it's so many phases of life that you're watching. Yeah,
38:08
Speaker 3: but the one connector, and like you said, is that
38:12
Speaker 3: it's that love and connection that it means something different
38:15
Speaker 3: to the Sun than it does to Steve Carrell, than
38:19
Speaker 3: it does to Ryan Gosling, and that it does to Julian.
38:21
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's different as you evolve and as
38:25
Speaker 3: you age and in the story.
38:27
Speaker 2: Ultimately, all roads lead back to the same basic emotion
38:32
Speaker 2: that we all crave and need, and I thought that
38:37
Speaker 2: was something that made this particularly unique for the genre,
38:41
Speaker 2: because not every romantic comedy that comes out is able
38:43
Speaker 2: to hit on so many of those things and still
38:47
Speaker 2: be like a good a good movie. Yeah, and it's
38:51
Speaker 2: it's just I'm really impressed, and it feels like every
38:56
Speaker 2: time I rewatch this, I come away thinking, Man, I
38:59
Speaker 2: can't believe how good that is.
39:00
Speaker 3: For the It's it's on my mount rushmore of rom coms.
39:04
Speaker 3: I really feel like that. And when Harry met Sally
39:09
Speaker 3: for me, I find I really like to watch Something's
39:16
Speaker 3: Got to Give. Oh yeah, and I don't know if
39:19
Speaker 3: as good as it gets as a straight up rom com,
39:21
Speaker 3: so I won't include that. But another one that I
39:26
Speaker 3: tend to light and that you can really kind of
39:29
Speaker 3: watch it for Valentine's Day, you can kind of watch
39:32
Speaker 3: it for Christmas, but I there is something about the atmosphere, obviously,
39:38
Speaker 3: the two actors in and stuff. But I love me
39:41
Speaker 3: some You've got mail the old bookstore and then that
39:44
Speaker 3: old like kind of like small own books, Like that's
39:53
Speaker 3: so charming to me, and like it's New York and
39:55
Speaker 3: it's like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in there, like
39:58
Speaker 3: absolute kind of and of course you know people are
40:01
Speaker 3: sleepless in Seattle anyway, but but yeah, I I would
40:05
Speaker 3: put this up there. I will say when Harry met Sally,
40:08
Speaker 3: which if people don't know, we just saw that within
40:10
Speaker 3: like a year or two ago.
40:11
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, And there's an episode on the movie yeah
40:14
Speaker 2: in the.
40:14
Speaker 3: Which is why we and it's it's fantastic and I'm
40:18
Speaker 3: I and you want to tell I am amazed of
40:20
Speaker 3: when that was made and nobody has done it like
40:23
Speaker 3: it since. But crazy stupid love to me is another
40:27
Speaker 3: iteration of that where I don't. I know, there's movies
40:30
Speaker 3: that have tried it before and after, but you it
40:34
Speaker 3: just it in what in whatever kind of way, whether
40:39
Speaker 3: it's out of the director's hands or the cast or whatever,
40:41
Speaker 3: they haven't been able to pull it off. But man,
40:44
Speaker 3: when it when they do, it works, And I think, again,
40:47
Speaker 3: I think it's a modern rom com classic. When someone
40:50
Speaker 3: asked about rom com or hey, what do you watch them? Like,
40:53
Speaker 3: I like, that's that's, if not one of the one
40:58
Speaker 3: that like I think, like, yeah, that's got one of the.
41:00
Speaker 2: Greats gotta happen. Yeah, any parting thoughts before we get
41:03
Speaker 2: on out of.
41:04
Speaker 3: Here, No, I'm just glad to see that one. It
41:09
Speaker 3: never gets old. No, it's it will stand the test
41:12
Speaker 3: of time because of what we've talked about with its themes.
41:15
Speaker 3: And I'm just what a what a crew, what a
41:21
Speaker 3: crew of people to come together and do it, and
41:23
Speaker 3: they are all the finest of actors. Yeah, it's amazing
41:28
Speaker 3: to me. But I will say, and I know we've ared,
41:30
Speaker 3: we touched on it, don't let's not forget about that
41:34
Speaker 3: supporting cast, because I'm gonna tell you that is a
41:36
Speaker 3: great supporting cast. Is from the Babysitter to Marisitoma, John Carroll,
41:41
Speaker 3: Lynch is a They're They're all there and they're very
41:44
Speaker 3: much game to do what was required to make this
41:47
Speaker 3: so enjoyable and entertaining.
41:49
Speaker 2: Well, that's gonna do it for us. In another episode
41:51
Speaker 2: of the Movie Review Rewind podcast, Happy Valentine's Day if
41:55
Speaker 2: you if you need a night in with the one
41:59
Speaker 2: you love. Crazy stupid love obviously comes highly recommended from us.
42:03
Speaker 2: If you want more of our work, be sure to
42:05
Speaker 2: subscribe to the Movie Review Rewind Podcast Via Nashville Movie
42:08
Speaker 2: dispatch wherever you take in your podcast, and subscribe to
42:11
Speaker 2: the substack at nashvillemoviedispatch dot com, the Nationalmoviedispatch dot substack
42:17
Speaker 2: dot com, and for Brandon, I'm stony until next time.
42:21
Speaker 2: You stay classy moviegoers,