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Crazy, Stupid, Love Movie Review Summary

Actors: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Julianne Moore

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Crazy, Stupid, Love


"Crazy Stupid Love" is about Cal, an ordinary man, who is trying to deal with the fact that his wife cheated on him and asked him for divorce. Cal is a man in his late 40s who is still very much in love with his wife Emily. When she asks for a divorce and tells him she cheated on him, Cal literally jumps out of a moving car.
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As Cal is moving out of his house and starts spending a lot of time in a bar near by, getting drunk and telling everyone his wife cheated on him, he is noticed by Jacob - the local playboy at his late 20s, who goes home with a different girl every night. Jacob is feeling sorry for Cal and decides to teach him how to go back to being an attractive man, and not just husband and a father.

The movie also shows us probably the one time that a girl ever said no to Jacob at the same bar - the beautiful redhead Hannah, who is about to be a lawyer leaves the bar with her friend after Jacob approaches them.

This does nothing to the playboy's confidence and he spends some quality time teaching Cal how to live. He picks the right suite for him, because, as it turns out, Cal has been wearing 2-3 sizes larger suites all his life. He takes him to the gym and they spend evenings at the same bar, while Jacob shows Cal how to hit on women. While Emily is still contemplating her decision for divorce, Cal succeeds in getting another woman into bed - and it turns out this is one of his son's teachers. Cal lies that he will call her back and the story blows up in his face when he and his (ex) wife go to a parent-teacher meeting with the same woman.

At the same time, their 13 year old son is in love with their 17 year-old baby sitter, who is in love with Cal. After the girl decides to take naked photos of herself and give them to Cal, so he doesn't see her as a little girl anymore, her parents and the young boy in love find out and again - it is Cal who is at fault.

At the same time Hannah and Jacob meet again and this time, things between them happen. Jacob tells Cal about her being a game changer, without suspecting the two know each other...

With both funny and dramatic twist and turns and great actor's play, this movie will leave you wanting to see it again and again.
Best part of story, including ending: "Crazy Stupid Love" has the perfect title for what it is - showing normal people acting in crazy, stupid ways, having fun and being sad, all because they want to love and be loved.

Best scene in story: There is a moment when Hannah gets really mad at her boyfriend, leaves him and goes to the bar to find Jacob. She is all wet from walking in the rain while kissing him and asks him "Do you still want to take me home?". It is brave and cute, and even cuter later on, when we see that this is maybe her first act of bravery.

Opinion about the main character: Cal is a man who forgot to be a man, but who still remember what love is. Once he realizes how much he still loves his wife, he uses everything Jacob thought him to bring her back.

The review of this Movie prepared by Maya Sayvanova a Level 1 Blue Jay scholar

This is a story of Cal Weaver whose high school sweetheart and wife of 20 years decides she wants to file for divorce. He happens to get the surprise of his life when he realizes that not only is she filing for divorce but she has also been having an affair with her co-worker David Lindhagen.
Cal is a devoted family man with a great job and house. When he loses the house and moves into his own apartment, Cal begins drinking his nights away at the local pub and talking loudly about his horrible divorce. This happens to attract the attention of a ladies man named Jacob Palmer, who teaches him how to become the master of the dating scene. Jacob is known to be quite the womanizer and takes Cal under his wing out of pity and changes his entire wardrobe and Cal begins to learn the art of seducing women. As they begin spending their evenings together at the bar a friendship begins to develop between the two men.
On Cal's first attempt to seduce a woman, he meets a woman named Kate who at first rejects his advances but eventually happens to sleep with him. As the following weeks pass, Cal has managed to successfully seduce multiple women even while still being troubled by his recent divorce from Emily. Cal sees Emily at a parent teacher conference, they were almost about to reconcile until the teacher of their son is Kate, who happens to be the same woman Cal recently slept with. When Emily realizes Cal's recent womanizing ways she leaves in disgust and begins dating David again.
Meanwhile, Cal's 13 year old son Robbie, develops a massive crush on his 17 year old babysitter Jessica. Robbie tells Cal he believes Jessica is his soul mate the same way Emily and Cal are soul mates. Unfortunately, Jessica is repulsed at Cal's advances and begins to develop a crush for Cal.
Best part of story, including ending: I enjoyed the humor in this movie and the cleverness of the plot. It's edgier than any other romantic comedy I have scene. The characters stay pretty true to who they are and grow as the movie progresses.

Best scene in story: My favorite scene would be when Jacob decides to hit on a girl named Hannah at the bar while sitting with her friend and he says, "Hi, you look like a carrot."

Opinion about the main character: What I like about the main character is his sincerity and how he has only been with his wife. His role in the movie makes you sympathize with him. Regardless of his life spiraling out of control he is still willing to regain his ex wife's love.

The review of this Movie prepared by Maggie a Level 4 Yellow-Headed Blackbird scholar

Cal Weaver is a father of two, a middle-aged husband who is content with his life... until one night, out of the blue, his wife reveals that she has been having an affair with a co-worker and she wants a divorce. He begins frequenting a bar, getting drunk and telling any passer-by about his wife cheating on him. One night, a young playboy named Jacob Palmer takes a liking to Cal and decides to mentor him; he will teach Cal how to clean up his life, "reclaim his manhood," and pick up women in bars like the other studs. Meanwhile, Cal's son Robbie is making bold romantic gestures to his babysitter Jessica, who he is madly in love with, but Jessica harbors a secret crush on Cal. Cal fails terribly the first few times, but with a new wardrobe and a new lease on life, he eventually begins succeeding taking women home. Although his confidence is growing, he still wishes that he could win his wife back. Jacob, on the other hand, has the opposite problem: he wishes to maintain his single man lothario lifestyle full of one night stands and sex without love, but one night, he falls for a young woman named Hannah, and he begins seriously dating. Cal tries to slowly woo back his wife, and things seem to be going well, but when his grand romantic gesture to re-unite with her is interrupted by Jacob and Hannah, who is revealed to be his daughter, Cal and Jacob's friendships are fractured, and Cal must find a way to get over his hang-ups and bring his family back together.
Best part of story, including ending: It's especially clever for a romantic comedy, filled with three intersecting love stories. One of the three isn't as good as the others, but two out of three, as they say, ain't bad.

Best scene in story: Cal's initial meet-up with Jacob is full of hilarious one-liners and generally amusing life advice. Gosling and Carell share terrific chemistry together.

Opinion about the main character: Cal is incredibly sympathetic, primarily because Steve Carell is such an immediately charming performer, but also because his jokes are so sharp.

The review of this Movie prepared by R.W. Hainline a Level 29 Superb Fruit-Dove scholar

Script Analysis of Crazy, Stupid, Love

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Plot & Themes

Time/era of movie:    -   2000's+ (present) Romance/Love/Hugging    -   Yes Kind of romance:    -   boatload of casual sex without love

Main Character

Identity:    -   Male Age:    -   40's-50's Ethnicity/Nationality    -   White American

Setting

United States    -   Yes The US:    -   California Small town?    -   Yes Misc setting    -   bar

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   no torture/death Sex/nudity in movie?    -   Yes What kind of sex:    -   vague references only    -   kissing Any profanity?    -   Occasional swearing

Movies with storylines, themes & endings like Crazy, Stupid, Love

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