Crazy, Stupid, Love Review!

Crazy Stupid Love

I usually don’t watch romantic life style movies frequently, but since I am a big fan of Steve Carell, I was curious to see how he would perform in a serious role in a life story about a husband and wife getting divorced in the movie ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’.

The story is about Cal Weaver played by Steve Carell and his wife Emily Weaver played by Julianne Moore, who one night tells Cal ‘I want a divorce’. Cal reacts by not responding, except with silence. Later on he starts to hang out at a local bar, and begins to express his true feelings about the divorce to all, but no one cares, except Jacob Palmer played by Ryan Gosling, who is a local playboy. Jacob propositions Cal to get him out of his depressed state by teaching Cal how to be like him. Reluctant, Cal accepts, and Jacob begins to educate Cal on being a playboy. Over time Cal becomes Jacob, but Jacob falls in love with Hanna played by Emma Stone, making Jacob confused on how to deal with this new experience. This leads to an unexpected love triangle that impacts Cal’s family, Jacob and a realization Cal still loves his wife even after what she did.

For a life story, they brought together a great cast, delivering excellent performances across the board. There was a lot of emotional topics the movie touched on, from teenage crushes, to loving the right guy, and how a family copes with changes that are tied to a divorce. Without the talented cast, I don’t feel the movie could have expanded into other topics while keeping focus on the main subject of divorce.

Steve Carell did a good job playing a serious character, while still being likeable and funny. Julianne Moore performed admirably, and had a good onscreen chemistry with Carell. Ryan Gosling had no problems delivering a very confident playboy, presenting a buddy/mentor relationship with Carell. Emma Stone presented a serious, but adorable and likeable character that matched up well with Gosling’s character.

If I had something to complain about the movie, it would be spending too much time on other topics like teenage crushes. It just felt like this was a filler story designed to take a break from the main topic of divorce. If that was the goal then I can accept it for it was. It didn’t hurt the story; I just felt it was awkward timing.

Overall, the talented cast made this movie what is, an enjoyable and entertaining life story. After seeing this movie I have no more doubts on whither Steve Carell can play a serious character. He performed well enough, while keeping his likeable and comedic side that I enjoy.

American Reunion Review

Ever since the debut of the American Pie movie, I could not help but to continue watching the next adventures of the American Pie cast. Even the none-original cast related movies; I went out of my way to watch. Yes! That includes the American Pie present movies that included some horrible story lines.



Some American Reunion Cast Members

The original cast with Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Sean William Scott, Eugene Levy and the rest of the original cast is the group I find most enjoyable to watch. Their high-school antics, humor, sex topics provided some of the funniest moments in the series. Who can top Jim and Nadia’s webcam moments or Michelle’s line ‘in band camp”, to Stifler’s unexpected responses to everything? I don’t think anyone could have delivered a better performance than the original cast. So when American Reunion came out I was curious to see how the original cast would translate to an adult lifestyle. 

The movie definitely isn’t American Pie in high school. That’s probably apparent in the title since ‘Pie’ is no longer referenced, and the pie was the trade mark for the first movie. I mean, who will not forget Jim’s pie grinding moments? Hence, the story of the American Reunion is more about how they all ended up.

Stifler’s character played by Sean William Scott probably had the worst time in translating into adult life. After all he was the most arrogant, and overconfident teenager who thought about sex more than any cast member. His antics didn’t quite deliver in the movie, but then again he is an older version of Stifler who really did not know how to fit in. However, Sean still delivered a memorable performance of Stifler that we have all liked or hated during the series.

Noah played by Eugene Levy probably stole the show for his antics felt more acceptable compared to Stifler’s crazy moments. Since the movie is presenting a more mature view of the American Pie cast, Eugene provided a good balance to keep the movie entertaining, where Stifler’s antics didn’t deliver the craziness he had during the first and second movies. Eugene still had it in him, for Noah was still the memorable character we expected as the father.

If you watched the previous American Pie movies, you will have a better understanding where each cast member ended up in the relationship and love department. For the remaining cast, the story was more about the relationships and love they had for each other.

Overall, American Reunion isn’t American Pie in their high school years. The cast is too old to deliver that type of performance and it showed when Stifler tried his antics. It just felt awkward given the direction of the movies story.  The cast still delivered a fun movie, presenting characters the way we remembered them in the series, but also gave us a good look into how grown-up they are now. If you are looking for a movie that is in high-school with a lot of sex talk and craziness, then I don’t recommend this movie. You are better off watching the movie Project X.

I give American Reunion an impression score of 2 out of 4 smiles.