Review: Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

I like to be honest in my reviews and I was NOT looking forward to this film.  In fact, I started watching it around five times and had to turn it off after ten minutes because the sight of Ryan Gosling with a terrible moustache and a brown cardigan (plus the cover of the DVD) horrified me!  We tried to watch it at the last Flick Chicks movie night but (happily for me) it wouldn't work!  But we had to face it at some point so last nights Flick Chicks movie night was that time, no excuses!!
Come on, this guy is a total babe in every film he's in, we had to watch this just to balance it out a little!

So after finally watching the (whole) film, we can review it.  The film revolves around Lars, a young-ish man who after the death of his father moves into the garage of the house him and his brother owns.  Lars is a bit of a recluse although does hold down a job, but he doesn't like being touched or spending time with people even his own family.  This all changes when he meets his girlfriend Bianca, a wheelchair bound half Brazilian, half Danish brunette, who happens to be a 'real girl' doll.  The story follows how his family and the locals react to his delusions and how they support him throughout his 'relationship'

So you can see why the prospect of this film scared me, but it turns out I was wrong.  This film was moving and heartfelt and Gosling was incredible as the delusional Lars and his love for Bianca made her into a real character in the film that you felt like you knew by the time the film ending.  There were some cringeworthy moments that I might struggle to watch again but they just added to the good humour of the film and the sympathy for poor Lars and his struggle to deal with human emotion.  This was probably the biggest cringe moment (please excuse the terrible quality of the video):

Aww, but we got to hear him sing again?! What a sweetie...

Overall, this is a love story, regardless of what you think about the situation the film surrounds, this is a man finding love and learning to open up.  It just happens to be that who he finds love with is a doll. 

Without spoiling anything, there's a twist that I didn't really see coming. Knowing that it was an Oscar nominee, I knew it wouldn't be straightforward so I was expecting something.

Trivia:  In order to help Gosling stay in character, the cast and crew treated Bianca (the doll) as a real person, she had her own trailer and was only present on set when she was due to be in a scene. I giggle just thinking about this!

Bonus photo of us looking mega confused/conflicted/horrified:

I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it.  Ryan Gosling stole the show (as he does quite regularly) and made you fall in love with Bianca as much as he did his family and friends.

I really enjoyed this too but I just didn't connect with Bianca as much as I would have wanted to, so I struggled slightly. Not that it's the films fault though!