Emily Mortimer, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson, Paul Schneider, Ryan Gosling

Lars Lindstrom is a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to vis...( read more  read more... )it him. He introduces Bianca to his brother Gus and his wife Karen and they are stunned. They don't know what to say to Lars or Bianca--because she is a life-size doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar who explains this is a delusion he's created--for what reason she doesn't yet know but they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him.

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84% liked it

82,591 ratings

Critics

81% liked it

129 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 46 min.

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Release Date: October 12, 2007

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DVD Release Date: April 15, 2008

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Flixster Reviews (13,639)


  • December 26, 2009
    ''Sometimes I get so lonely I forget what day it is, and how to spell my name.''

    A delusional young guy strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.

    Ryan Gosling: Lars Lindstrom

    Well where to start with Lars and the Real Gi...( read more)rl is that what may start of as a comedy created for laughs to begin with, slowly evolves into a more serious and thought provoking study.
    The study being in this case, of a man called Lars Lindstrom, subjecting himself to an isolated way of life by choice. Reasons for this choice are slowly explained as the movie takes it's time to play through the motions. Which are first making the majority of us laugh and secretly ridicule him like the townspeople do behind his back, then they all collaborate to help him and play along with his belief. That being said everyone begins to play a part with Lars and his newly acquired ''girlfriend''.


    Whats clever about Lars is that it never feels rushed or over done. The characters all seem to be believable in their set performances of the material given. Craig Gillespie utilizes all this to give this town and it's people a breath of life. As the film progresses Lars slowly begins to decrease, with the town people's help, his activity and time with Bianca the Doll. His appointments with the doctor help us grasp gradually what Lars mindset is while Margo, a co-worker, provides a real alternative to the Bianca relationship Lars has and he slowly subconsciously begins to realize this.

    Ryan Gosling's performance as Lars is really what this film is about. He not only changes his appearance but his mannerisms and disposition, his set ways and belief that consumes eventually the whole town to play along inside his delusional world, really has to be marveled.
    Also his headaches and spiraling evolution towards removing Bianca from his life without admitting she isn't real is moving. For Bianca may be seen to audiences as being not a real person to us, to Lars he believes that without question that she is real to him, and that I believe, Ryan Gosling as Lars succeeds in making me believe.

    Other performances I should mention are Patricia Clarkson as Dr Dagmar, who plays a psychiatrist accurately by showing that she has her share of problems also, everyone does. Emily Mortimer as Karin,Paul Schneider as Gus and Kelli Garner as Margo really all did very fine believable acting to flesh out their said characters with immense believability.
    Even Bianca seems to emit a performance herself becoming a character among the cast and a part of the Town and it's people.

    Lars and the Real Girl isn't one of those films which has fancy effects and non-stop action. It's not that kind of film, and even then, they are not required. What we get is something that transcends emotion and belief and breathes life into a genre that needs original and vibrant films such as Lars.

    A masterpiece that is as close to perfect as heaven doth allow, Ryan Gosling's transformation and performance acts as the breath of life responsible for this miracle.
  • September 25, 2009
    It seems like an almost impossibility for a movie with a plot like this to be sincere instead of creepy or sophomoric, but Lars and the Real Girl manages to walk that thin line pretty well most of the time. Sure, it requires a pretty huge suspension of disbelief by the viewer (A ...( read more)whole town being that nice and supportive? The whole ambulance and hospital thing? Not likely.), but if you can deal with that commitment then you're in for a uniquely pleasurable experience.

    Most of the acting burden falls on Ryan Gosling, and he fortunately never lets Lars become a pathetic or alienating figure. Sure, you feel sorry for him, but he still appears to be a likeable young man despite his problems. You root for Lars, just like his sister-in-law (a great Emily Mortimer) does. Watching how Lars changes over the course of the story is one of the big pluses of this movie.

    A lot of people will read the plot description and think this movie is too weird to even attempt to watch, but I would encourage more mature people to give it a shot anyway. Sometimes weird is good.
  • September 3, 2009
    Lars and the Real Girl was so far off the mark from what the trailer boasted that its almost criminal. Instead of the self-appreciating ball of quirk that the trailer promised, the film itself actually delivered one of the sweetest and most touching movies I've seen in a long tim...( read more)e. Ryan Gosling was all kinds of great and Patricia Clarkson was stupendous as always. Lars and the Real Girl also has near perfect cinematography (which alone is worth the time) and a fantastic score. The film kept me guessing right up to the end and had never went where I expected it to. Such a great, great film...
  • August 22, 2009
    This is certainly a different film, but quite good in it's own right.
    Ryan Gosling portrays the affable introvert Lars Lindstrom who is in near solitude for years; only to have a "friend" he's met on the internet come and visit. He introduces Bianca to his brother and his wife w...( read more)ho are stunned at the fact that Bianca is in fact a life-size "love" doll that Lars is treating and representing as a human being.
    The family doctor explains after meeting Bianca in Lars's presence that this is a delusion he's created for reasons unknown, but believes that the best thing is for them to do is go along with it. The subsequent events show the emotional journey for Lars and the people around him, and how Bianca is more helpful than one may think for Lars.
    I know that sounds odd, but it's something you have to see to understand. The brilliant acting performance by Gosling really makes this film what it is. The vulnerability and delusional qualities Lars has are quite sad, but are also quite funny at times due to the context of the film, and the reactions of others to Bianca, the "Real Girl".
  • August 4, 2009
    I'll have to think more about this one. I was on board with it up until the ending, where the whole thing suddenly reeked of some warped version of Radio and it all moved quickly from sweet to preachy. Bianca is a great spacer between Lars and the audience - with her in the equat...( read more)ion, it's much harder to see this as the mental illness exploitation disaster that I'm inclined to think it may be.

    All right, I've let it soak for two days...I think my biggest disappointment, ultimately, was that its final few minutes turned the movie into something really sentimental and preachy when it really didn't need to be. The premise is quirky, different, and gently twisted enough to pull off a more against-the-grain ending. Instead, we get a bunch of audience baiting designed to remind the community why we should be nice to These People and How Much They Have Taught Us...About Ourselves. It's an old, cloying message employed by basically every film about mental illness ever, one that makes everyone involved look sycophantic.

    I will say this, though: Ryan Gosling's star continues to rise. His work in Half Nelson, another movie which I found to be flat, was indelible, and this is about the farthest turn away from that as possible. It's a little bit over-affected (we don't need the twitching to know that Lars is mentally ill) but the fact that he sells the insane amount of surreal, delusional shit that transpires is almost stunning. You end up really getting behind the character, and horrifyingly, he actually manages to personify Bianca as well. So good. Patricia Clarkson is thunderously effective in a handful of subdued scenes, and Kelli Garner, though limited, works perfectly in her role. Emily Mortimer has a certain odd flair for comedy but her dramatic work has been better; Paul Schneider is kind of wallpapery, but at least inoffensive. What all of the cast manages to do very well is accept the film's conceit, a sex doll demanding to be treated as a real person, and run with it as best as they can. They really emote with Bianca, communicating with her with varying levels of irony to suit the situation or their character, and not once do you feel the actors were unsure or awkward about their role in this story. Given that Bianca is either an extremely complex prop or a non-sentient actress, the amount of interaction they get out of her is admirable.

    Lars and the Real Girl is technically impressive (note also the Best Screenplay Oscar nod, which I don't think it deserved) but plummets into many of the same pitfalls that might plague a bigger Hollywood picture about a similar subject. If only films could let the characters they depict stand on their own without beatifying them - show them as real people instead of having a priest give us a three-minute monologue about how much they've changed our lives.
  • February 2, 2010
    Extraña y tierna película. Un excelente y original guión, no entiendo como no gano el oscar.Las actuaciones son impecables, destacando sobre todo las de Ryan Gosling. De esas peliculas que al final te dejan una sensación muy agradable.
  • January 25, 2010
    That was ridiculous. Good acting from Gosling.
  • January 24, 2010
    This movie wasn't bad. I think it it explores loneliness. I enjoyed it!
  • January 24, 2010
    a beautiful and redemptive story. riveting,
  • January 19, 2010
    there all gonna laugh at you

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptomania

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusion

    Although non-specific concepts of madness have been around for several thousand years, the psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers was the first to define the three ma...( read more)in criteria for a belief to be considered delusional in his 1917 book General Psychopathology. These criteria are:
    certainty (held with absolute conviction)
    incorrigibility (not changeable by compelling counterargument or proof to the contrary)
    impossibility or falsity of content (implausible, bizarre or patently untrue)

Critic Reviews


October 25, 2007
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Every scene that could be played for pathos uncorks great laughs, while those that could turn crass or silly are compassionate. On every level, this is a labor of love. full review

October 22, 2007
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Often howlingly funny, and the actors are a treat. full review

October 19, 2007
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Almost impossibly sweet, a tale of love and kindness that's funny without being snarky. full review

October 19, 2007
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

One could be led to expect something arch and knowing, but the film is anything but that. It's an emotionally invested movie about loneliness and the lingering scars of early trauma. full review

October 19, 2007
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains. full review

October 19, 2007
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

It's nothing less than a miracle that the director, Craig Gillespie, and the writer, Nancy Oliver, have been able to make such an endearing, intelligent and tender comedy from a premise that, in other... full review

October 19, 2007
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

The central gimmick of the film remains just that -- a gimmick -- as genuine emotion gives way to shaggy-dog shtick. full review

October 12, 2007
Pete Hammond, Maxim

It's the real deal. A whimsical, funny, moving film. Gosling is no less than astounding in the surprise movie comedy treat of the year. full review

October 11, 2007
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Lars and the Real Girl is a tenderly observed and affecting Capra-esque fable that is well-acted and gently funny. full review

View more Lars and the Real Girl reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • perfectgentlemn
    July 20, 2008
    Wasn't sure if I should be laughin or cryin' lol, What an excellent movie. Definate Must See... haha. ;) Enjoy.
  • tonya1974
    May 19, 2008
    i was blown away by the love the townspeople had for lars and how much they put into helping him deal with his own personal struggles. they let him come to terms in his own time. the funeral scene ripped my heart out and i cried through most of the credits!
  • mistershinobi
    August 13, 2007
    sounds like "DUMMY" redux to me

    but it's kind of a wet dream to every indie-american-film FAN:

    Ryan Gosling + Patricia Clarkson + Emily Mortimer + screenplay by Nancy Oliver

    oh...my...gOSH!!

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Lars and the Real Girl Trivia


  • Name the movie that did not starred Ryan Reynolds.  Answer »
  • In the 2007 comedy 'Lars And The Real Girl' what is the name of the "real girl?"  Answer »
  • Which pair was in both "All the Real Girls" and "Lars and the Real Girl?"  Answer »
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