Lars and the Real Girl

Lars and the Real Girl is the real deal, a movie for people who want to believe that somewhere out there is the perfect soul mate for just about anyone. In this case, that would be an anatomically correct $6,200 sex doll named Bianca. Lars (Ryan Gosling) is a quiet, somewhat damaged young man who simply seems to have gravitated to another world of his own. One day, he brings a date home to his brother (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law (Emily Mortimer)—a "girlfriend" who happens to be a blow-up doll he purchased on the Internet. At first both are shocked, but while the brother thinks he should be committed, his wife understands Lars isn't looking for sex, but rather a deeper relationship that will help him emerge from the dark. At first it all seems like a one-joke premise that can't possibly go feature length, but this oddball story takes some nice turns and we soon begin rooting for Bianca, who, though genuinely synthetic inside and out, is really someone we can care about because Lars does. He believes, and so will you. As the story progresses, the local townspeople begin to accept Bianca as one of their own. One of them, in fact, tries to morph her way into Lars' life and strike up a genuine relationship that becomes predictably complicated by the living doll he has taken to heart. Sessions with a sympathetic psychiatrist (Patricia Clarkson) help define the thin line Lars walks between a search for love and mental illness in this whimsical, funny, and moving account of the oddest romantic relationship in cinema history. The delicate balance of this uniquely different story is held together by Gosling, who is no less than astounding in the surprise movie comedy treat of the year.