Lars and the Real Girl

I am at a loss as to how to categorize this movie. I expected it to be a comedy, though certainly one of the more quirky and less mainstream types. But this movie did not make me laugh. It wasn't quite a drama, but it was closer to drama than comedy. Though it didn't make me cry, either. I suppose the closest I can come to describing it would be by calling it the darkest of the dark dark comedies, but not funny. Really, it was an amalgamation of genres: it had the soundtrack of a quirky indie and the premise of a comedy, but it played like a drama. Or tried to.

Ryan Gosling stars as Lars (channeling David Arquette in both looks--must have been the mustache--and personality) as a painfully awkward pseudo-adult who lives in his brother's garage. He is shy to the point of creepiness. In a normal movie you would find out he's a serial killer or suffers from MPD. Or both. But not in this movie. He's just delusional enough to believe his blow-up doll is a real person. And his brother Gus is such a normal person! The contrast between the brothers is stark.

The movie started towards a theme of "Everybody's weird", first with Lars' coworkers and their affinity for action figures and teddy bears to keep them company in their cubicles at work, then with the church support group. If they had worked that angle a little more, they might have been able to weave in some laughs, but that fizzled out quickly. Even if they had followed that thread farther, I'm afraid it wouldn't have flown with me. Yes, everyone has their quirks (some more than others) but not everyone is delusional.

I couldn't laugh at this movie. The one scene that may have coaxed a slight grin out of me was the one where Gus and his wife Karen "meet" Bianca the Real Girl for the first time. The expressions on their faces were priceless. As for the rest of the movie, I can sum it up in the conversation Gus and Karen had while bathing Bianca:

Karen: "Oh, come on, it's funny!"

Gus: "Is it?"

Karen: "I don't know... I don't know, maybe not."

I must make special mention of the scene towards the end of the movie: Bianca is "dying", they're at the lake, poignant music is playing, and I'm wondering, What are they wanting me to feel? I'm not laughing, nor is this heartwarming or bringing a tear to my eye by any means... I'm just kind of grossed out. Especially when he kisses her. And then cries. Seriously, was I supposed to be sad about that? Was I supposed to laugh about that? I just didn't know what to do with it.

I must be missing the big picture and taking this movie too literally. (It wouldn't be the first time). It has to be an analogy for something and I can't see it. I guess I need someone to explain it to me. That's the only logical excuse I can think of for this movie. But at the end, what did I learn? And is Lars all of a sudden going to be a normal person? I kind of see this issue in black and white. Either he is going to snap back to reality, look at those photographs with Bianca in them, and say to himself, What the heck was I thinking?? I was freakin' out of my MIND!! OR, he is going to live the rest of his life believing Bianca was a real person who really died, in which case he is still freakin' out of his mind. And then I think, it's just a movie... none of it was real...

Nifty note: I was pleasantly surprised to hear the Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" playing when Lars and Bianca arrived at the party. But on second thought I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised to find obscure music in this movie.