This romantic comedy is worth watching if you can completely suspend disbelief and laugh at some of the lines. Treat this as more comedy than romantic.
The cast includes Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon. Lots of talent who do their best to deliver the lines. Carell and Moore are a couple in a troubled marriage. Their thirteen year old son has a mad crush on the 17 year old babysitter, who has a crush on Carell, who is separated from his cheating wife. Carell meets Gosling in a "magic" pickup bar where single beautiful women abound for Gosling to pick up and take home. Gosling teaches Carell some of his secrets, while Gosling meets his soul mate. Hilarity ensues.
Carell and Jonah Bobo (who plays Carell's son) deliver some funny lines, which make for a few memorable scenes. The plot itself, however, is flat and unrealistic, so I found myself not caring about the characters and just waiting for the next punchline.
Some complaints (with spoilers):
The cast includes Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon. Lots of talent who do their best to deliver the lines. Carell and Moore are a couple in a troubled marriage. Their thirteen year old son has a mad crush on the 17 year old babysitter, who has a crush on Carell, who is separated from his cheating wife. Carell meets Gosling in a "magic" pickup bar where single beautiful women abound for Gosling to pick up and take home. Gosling teaches Carell some of his secrets, while Gosling meets his soul mate. Hilarity ensues.
Carell and Jonah Bobo (who plays Carell's son) deliver some funny lines, which make for a few memorable scenes. The plot itself, however, is flat and unrealistic, so I found myself not caring about the characters and just waiting for the next punchline.
Some complaints (with spoilers):
- There can exist a bar where, on a random night, the hot single women outnumber the single men, but that's not typical. Word gets out.
- It is in no way normal or funny for a high school age girl to try to send nude pictures to a grown man, especially a 40-something dad down the street. That's child porn. No, no, no.
- The 13 year old "loves" the babysitter, but he conducts himself like a creeping stalker. Jonah Bobo is funny at times, but his behavior is not normal.
- Wives who cheat on their husbands rarely get taken back. It works the other way as well, but more so for cheating wives. Infidelity is a nuclear bomb for most marriages.
- Where one spouse cheats on the other, don't introduce a plot line where the aggrieved spouse somehow "caused" it by his or her actions.
- Pickup artists whose priority it is to bed as many women as possible don't just become doting boyfriends and husbands. They have deep issues with connection and intimacy. I get it - the writers think that the female audience wants to believe that there are Ryan Goslings out there, just waiting to meet them and become "good" boyfriends. The notion that some "magic woman" will flip a switch and make a womanizer normal is far-fetched.