John’s Movie Musings

Those of you who have been reading these reviews know that I enjoy character studies. I like looking into the wounds of the past and seeing how they affect the actions of the present. It allows opportunities to explore subjects that might be too difficult through any other medium.

Lars and the Real Girl is such a movie. It tries to tackle extreme loneliness and isolation resulting from past childhood wounds. By necessity, the movie takes a fairly light tone and usually pokes fun of itself. It’s quirky but not in the “Hey I’m an Indie movie” kind of quirky. For the most part, it gets things right.

The basic plot is that Lars buys a lifesize doll and pretends she’s his real girlfriend. Remember that movie from the 80s where the store mannequins come to life and some guy falls in love with one? It’s like that, except the mannequin stays plastic. And Roxette didn’t do the soundtrack.

Lars is played by Ryan Gosling. The range he shows in Lars proves how great of an actor he is. I’ve liked him in other stuff I’ve seen, but not once did I think I was watching “that guy from The Notebook.” I’m looking forward to more stuff from him.

Overall, the movie does a pretty good job and making you feel for Lars and his fake girlfriend. I was fine with things up until the end when the movie decided to take itself way too seriously. Those of you who have seen this probably know what I’m talking about. While Lars may have had a problem distinguishing real from fake, I had no problem at all remembering that his girlfriend was a doll. When the director starts thinking that I’ve forgotten that fact, problems ensue. I won’t spoil it for ya, but you might be tempted to scream, “Come on!! She’s a doll!!” at your TV.

Just on the subject matter alone, this might be worth a rental. It’s not perfect, but at least they don’t completely screw it up.

Grade: B-

On the whole, I like Vin Diesel movies. Sure, they’re not great, but he portrays this sort of masculinity that’s not been seen since Chuck Norris. The kind that makes you stand in the theater and yell, “That’s testosterone, bitches!!!” Try it when you go see his next one. Don’t worry about feeling embarrassed. It’s a Vin Diesel movie, the place will be empty.

And that highlights Vin’s problem. He’s great at picking movies with interesting worlds and backdrops, but the plotlines lack focus. Just take a look at the Riddick movies for an example.

So does Babylon A.D. break the trend? Sadly, no. In many ways, it’s worse.

For the first two-thirds, the movie’s not bad. It’s a simple story of “get the girl to New York” but it’s got a Cyberpunk feel to keep things interesting. Sure, it’s ripped off of Blade Runner, but if you’re gonna rip something off, might as well be the best, right?

But here’s where the (plagairized) world building falls apart. Vin meets several characters along the journey that he seems to have a connection with. I expected all that to be revealed over the course of the movie, culminating to a satisfactory ending. Afterall, that’s how stories work. Instead, we get a completely new plot in the last act. Seriously, there comes a point towards the last half hour where everything after it has no connection to what came before. It’s bad. I’m talking Hancock bad. My friend and I sat through the credits trying to figure out what the writer/director were going for. I think we got it figured out, but man did they screw it up.

So yeah, skip this.

Grade: D