Real Girls

On deciding to take a break from watching films about fake girls, I watched two films today called “Lars And The Real Girl” and “All The Real Girls”. The three pertinent questions of (i) whether the films are related in any way, (ii) is it significant that they both star Paul Schneider and Patricia Clarkson and (iii) is there a reason I watched them both on the same day can all be answered with one word – no.

Lars And The Real Girl is the warm story of Lars Lindstrom, a 27 year old who leads a simple life but may also be simple minded. He buys a life-sized sex doll over the internet but genuinely believes she’s alive and treats her as his girlfriend, going so far as to introduce her to the people he knows. The main focus of the film is in how these people react and try to help Lars.

I’d recommend seeing this with as few people as possible. I was in a cinema with about 10 people who all seemed to think it was some sort of Ben Stiller dumbass comedy farce. Although the film is tinged with humour, there are only a few moments which are meant to be laugh-out-loud funny. It’s mostly a charming and endearing film. Unfortunately some idiots think they are meant to belly laugh at anything that seems slightly awkward.

Ryan Gosling is great in the lead role. It’s hard to think that it’s the same guy from The Believer (where he played a young neo-nazi anti-semite). Overall it’s a delightful film that deserves at least 6 crumbs out of 10.

All The Real Girls is a 2003 film set in a small town of North Carolina which centres on Paul and Noel (the female version of the name, as in Noelle), played by Paul Schneider and the always wonderful and beautiful Zooey Deschanel. Paul has a reputation as the town womaniser while Noel is young and chaste and has just returned from boarding school. As they fall for each other, we follow the development of their relationship.

I love films that seem ‘real’. Films where the characters find themselves in situations that I’ve been in or could be in and where they do and say things that I could’ve done or said. This is one of those films. The script does a good job of getting across how it’s sometimes difficult for characters to express themselves properly and the problems this can cause. The actors portray this very well.

The cinematography is also excellent with some gorgeous shots of the rural scenery. 5 crumbs out of 10.

Comments are closed.