Lars and the Real Girl

Lars (Ryan Gosling) is socially awkward and lives in a small town. And boy does he get some looks when he starts dating a blow-up, life-size love doll. Perhaps it's the only way he could deal with breaking up with Rachel McAdams. The townspeople, in a move only available in movies, play along because they like Lars that much. They think to help someone with this mental illness, or whatever it is Lars has, they should treat Bianca, the doll, like a real person and talk to her and comb her hair and ask her to read to children. Remember, this is a doll. I'm not sure who's more insane, Lars or the townspeople who treat the doll like a real person, even when Lars is not around. Throughout the movie, Gosling has an innocence in his love for this doll that is either sincere and sweet or really creepy.

I'm not sure what to make of the film -- sweet or creepy -- but that's an issue with the story more than the acting and directing, which were better than average. And against all odds, it maintains its pitch-perfect tone throughout, despite its weird-ass premise. It's played more serious than funny, closer to "Far From Heaven" than "Pumpkin." Now that I think of it, the extremely edgy "Pumpkin" was hilarious. And maybe this is the side of me that's not at all uncomfortable being one of five men at a sold-out Justin Timberlake concert, but I'm a Gosling fan. Even so, I still have no plans to see "The Notebook."