Crazy Stupid Love is a heartfelt film. Perhaps that’s because the narrative isn’t too far away from my own story of the last year. The closing lines of the film, when Julianne Moore‘s character says something like: “It’s been a hard year.” I felt that. It has been a hard year. Cal, played by Steve Carell, replies: “How so?” Sparking a chuckle for each of them as they share a laugh like their characters have shared for most of their lives. I miss that laughter. It reminds me to keep smiling when I can.
And when Ryan Gosling‘s character first meets Cal, it’s some pretty classic comedy. Each insult and slap stretches a smirk across my ape face. But the direct, stark truth amidst heartache and turmoil is also welcome. I can relate to Cal’s disregard for such disdain toward his raw feelings, but it does help having someone shoot straight when your world is bent out of shape.
The whole idea of a couple who have been together for two decades falling apart because one falls for someone else, hit close to home. The reinvention of a man who has lost some part of who he was is also familiar. Cal doesn’t just stumble through heartbreak though; he reconstructs himself. It’s messy, awkward, fumbling, like most human transformations. And as much as he loses, there’s a quiet thread of hope that guides him forward, that sense that even if you’ve screwed up the timing or the choices, there’s a path to becoming a slightly better version of yourself. I haven’t had quite as much of a Miyagi as Cal did, but the transformation arc isn’t too different.
The thing that really stings is how the idea of a soulmate and one true love still strikes at the core of my cardiac muscle. The poem someone published in a thing called Otherwise Engaged illustrates the sort of hopeless hope that comes from a crushed relationship that at least one participant thought was meant to be. If only the forces behind the kind of love that has no ‘because’ or ‘how much’ weren’t so god damn strong.
In any case, Crazy Stupid Love is a good movie with quite a killer cast. Kevin Bacon being the snack that breaks fidelity is quite funny. Emma Stone being courted by a smug, camp and rather cringey Josh Groban is quite hilarious too. But beyond the laughs and the witty lines, the film quietly reminds you that growth and reinvention aren’t about grand gestures. They’re about the small, clumsy steps that get you back to being, or at least feeling, like yourself again.
Overall, watching this movie is not a bad way to spend some time. It’s funny, a little poignant, a little savage in its honesty, and it leaves you thinking about laughter, heartbreak, and how even the most ridiculous or humiliating experiences can teach you about yourself. Maybe it’s as much about love itself as it is about finding the courage to become someone capable of it again.
