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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 1416
Released: April 15, 2008 |
| Our Price: $7.46 |
| Used Price: $2.34 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Sometimes you find love where you'd least expect it. Just ask Lars (Academy Award-Nominee* Ryan Gosling), a sweet but quirky guy who thinks he's found the girl of his dreams in a life-sized doll named Bianca. Lars is completely content with his artificial girlfriend, but when he develops feelings for Margo, an attractive co-worker, Lars finds himself lost in a hilariously unique love triangle, hoping to somehow discover the real meaning of true love. Offbeat and endearing, this romantic comedy takes a fresh look at dating and relationships and dares to ask the question: What's so wrong with being happy?
Description of Lars and the Real Girl:
To some, Lars and the Real Girl will play as comedy; to others, tragedy. Though Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock) allows Lars Lindstrom (a mustachioed Ryan Gosling, miles away from Half Nelson) a happy ending, the road is far from smooth. This rumpled Midwesterner couldn't be more miserable. His brother, Gus (Paul Schneider, All the Real Girls), and sister-in-law, Karin (Emily Mortimer, Lovely and Amazing), fall over themselves to cheer him up, but Lars cannot be moved; he’s been like that since childhood. Then a porn-addicted co-worker hips him to the lifelike Real Doll. The next thing everyone knows, Lars has a new girlfriend named Bianca. She's from Brazil, she's shy, and she uses a wheelchair. She's also made of silicon. (Because Lars is a devout Christian, hanky-panky is out of the question.) Since he's finally emerging from his shell, his doctor, Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), advises Gus and Karin to play along with the "delusion." Soon the whole town, including Margo (Kelli Garner), who harbors a not-so-secret crush on her officemate, gets in on the action, forcing Lars to rejoin the human race or crawl deeper into psychosis. Written by Six Feet Under's Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl is built around such a preposterous premise, it's hard to know whether to laugh or cry. Fortunately, the actors play it straight. Gosling does his best to make Lars sympathetic, but Schneider and Mortimer, fully convincing in their concern, are the true heart and soul of this odd little film. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Beyond Lars and the Real Girl
More from Ryan Gosling | 
Lars and the Real Girl Soundtrack | 
More Comedies from MGM |
Stills from Lars and the Real Girl Lars and the Real Girl Reviews:
Loved Lars -- A Surprisingly Touching Film 
2009-11-28 - "Lars and the Real Girl" is one of the more original movies I've seen in quite some time. It is easy to see how this incredibly inqenious screenplay could have devolved into a farcical, over-the-top picture. A film about a mentally ill, early 30s Midwestern guy who buys a sex doll to keep him company easily could have been a train wreck. Fortunately, it is a gem of film showcasing the talents of Ryan Gosling along with a stellar supporting performances, most notably Patricia Clarkson as Lars doctor.
Lars (Gosling) sister-in-law's pregnancy resurfaces painful childhood memories and brings Lars' mental illness to the forefront. Lars is unable to connect physically and emotionally with another person. The only thing able to bring Lars out of his "shell" and connect is Bianca. The only catch: Bianca is a sex doll Lars created and bought on the internet. The initial shock and amusement of the tight knit community turns to acceptance as they begin to go along with the whole thing. Part of the reason is because everyone adores Lars and his sweet innocence and decency. If it all sounds crazy and absurd, it is, but the movie never succumbs to the temptation to either get too sentimental or slapstick. There are scenes that will cause you to burst into laughter, but instantly bring you back to tender consideration for Lars and his situation.
"Lars and Real Girl" works because it is about people caring and connecting with each other, taking the time to understand who they are and why they are that way, and a community rallying together to help someone they love, in spite of their problems. This is a tender, funny and sentimental (in a really good way) movie that will surprise you, make you think and most of all, warm your heart.
Quirky but in a good way 
2009-11-03 - The Bottom Line:
An endearing independent movie that succeeds by takes a potentially absurd premise (a man not only falls in love with a sex doll, but believes it's an actual woman) and treating it with the utmost seriousness, Lars and the Real Girl is probably the best movie that could ever be made about a relationship between a man and a sex toy and certainly the most charming; if you want a date movie that's neither formulaic nor stupid, rent Lars and the Real Girl instead of some tripe like The Proposal.
3/4
Unexpected Surprise Hit
2009-10-30 - I thought this movie sounded weird. But not only did I find it amazingly great, everyone I know who has seen it also agrees.
A celebration of life ?
2009-10-11 -
I am not nearly sensitive enough to appreciate in a positive way anything at all about Lars and the Real Girl. The chain of off-the-wall abstractions is so counter-intuition and counter-experience point after point that it is difficult to attach any significance to any part of it, let alone the connectedness of any sequence of events one scene after another. Why did Lars buy the Real Girl ? Apparently not for any of the reasons hundreds if not thousands of other people buy Real Girls. Why did Lars move her in with his sister ? Why did Lars introduce Bianca to his sister as his "friend" ? What is right with this picture ? There are so many leaps in getting even this far that one must pause before bothering to wonder how it all turns out. Is there a moral here for anyone contemplating buying a Real Doll ? Is there anything positive in the development of this story that could not have been achieved without the doll in nearly every community in America ? If the doll is completely unnecessary then why tell the story in the first place ? How does this completely unnecessary story become a movie ? Does anything that happens in the movie cause us to search our souls ? If so, I wonder if the story and the movie has made any of the right choices. I think that the strongest moral value in the story comes from the example of the community rallying around the troubled Lars and accepting his "friend" into their circle. Certainly this is far-fetched but in the fantasy-upon-fantasy world of the author this has had a socially acceptable impact, restoring the troubled Lars to community-normal behavior. This is good for the community. This appears to be good for Lars, especially in the eyes of his family and friends. Bianca D I E D ! It was Lars that decided that she was sick (After finding out that the girl from the office that he had always had a crush on had broken up with the guy from the office that he didn't like.) Is that healthy ? Is such behavior something that we want to encourage ? It's just another soap opera. A soap opera with a twist, perhaps. Just a Chick Flick. Next week somebody will dig Bianca up and we will be off to the races, again !
Beautiful, touching, and sweetly told story
2009-10-09 - The description on the back of the DVD and in the trailers completely misses the point of this film. It's marketed as a quirky romantic comedy. It is definitely quirky and very funny in parts, but the story is far richer and more meaningful and tender than this.
That the main character falls in love with a doll is incidental. This film is about human attachment, loss, and grief. It is about brotherhood and simple charity, and it is as heartbreaking as it is charming. The story is told with such elegant sincerity, the acting is so honest, and the message is so full of childlike goodness, that for me this film is a parable about mankind's capacity for love in its purest and most encompassing form. It truly renews my faith in humanity.
