Product Details

• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of items: 1

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

insulting pandering disneyfied drivel
i don't know how its getting any good reviews. it is a fundamentally boring film. it takes an unrealistic portrayal of mental illness and tries to trudge through a formulaic lifetime cable tv drama plot where nothing is real. it also plays it so safe that this mans relationship with the doll is chaste. and of course he would also have a relatively attractive real woman constantly throwing herself at him despite his obvious mental illness. it just has the same scene of uncomfortable everyone watching lars talking to his doll, and everyone acting "normal" around him trying to play along..and everyone is so cooperative and helpful repeating over and over, it just gets old very fast. this film has no where to go and nothing real to say. it takes an interesting concept and turns it into trite feel good predictable blandness. its not just pop psychology or really bad pop psychology corrupting this film, no character in this film is believable. this is really one of the worst films of the year.

Strange premise - but a wonderful movie!
When I first heard the premise of this movie, I thought it to be absurd - especially the shocking idea of a sex doll being a co-star of the movie. However, despite the doll's illicit beginnings, this movie is chaste to the core.

Lars and the Real Girl is a story of a man who wants to be a man but has too many issues to deal with. Showing and receiving affection is extremely hard for him and actually causes him pain. And despite all those around him who genuinely care for him, his brother and sister-in-law included, their displays of affection for him only cause him to retreat further into himself - and they don't see it.

So what does Lars do? He creates himself a girlfriend by ordering a custom made sex doll and calls her Bianca. She's from Brazil and uses a wheel chair. Bianca becomes the object of Lars affection - all very chaste - but funny and absurd when you first see it. This is how Lars copes with his inadequacies and protects himself.

Bianca causes quite the stir, of course, and while the community first are shocked by this, they come together and play along with Lars' delusion out of their love for him. Even Margo, the real girl who truly likes Lars gracefully participates in the delusion out of respect and fondness for him.

Before long, the whole community embraces Bianca as one of her own. She gets a makeover and she volunteers at different organizations. And as Bianca is off gallivanting with the community, Lars begins to culminate a relationship and cope with his feelings for Margo. Eventually, this begins the heartbreaking rift with his delusion with Bianca...one that ripples through the family and community as well. You can't help but cheer on Lars as he struggles to emerge from his delusion and begin his real life romance with the real girl.

There's so much to this movie it's hard to categorize. It is a comedy, it is a romance, it is a tragedy (of sorts) and a triumph, it's a feel-good movie. Each and every actor in this movie played their roles extremely well - even Bianca, who isn't even alive, was a perfect cast. Kudos!

This movie makes one wish to live in such a small town where everyone knows your name, your quirks, and still loves you all the same. Does such a place exist?

Finally, I want to know where I can get (or make) that adorable knit cap that Bianca wore. LOL!

Lars
A movie I will be using for a long time for personal and professional reasons.....