Lars and the Real Girl

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Ian H Lovely film. Great cast. Great sentiment. Sweet and funny Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/12/25 Full Review My House P This movie sets a dangerous precedent. Spoiler alert. This movie has a good deal of classic fable elements and is not without charm. It's very well acted. Had Lars began his relationship life with a stuffed animal, a dog, or even a cardboard cutout of a woman, it would have been a much better movie. But the fact that the object of his affection as a silicone anatomically correct sex doll renders this movie dangerous. Everyone gets on board with Lars without knowing anything about him. Is he an innocent? Or is he having sex with the doll? We know that he hasn't come into his sexual side because we're privy to his relationship with the doll, but others don't. His relationship could be highly perverse and no one in the community would have known. Yet, they all rally around and accept his odd relationship. Somehow, hospital triage goes along with it, rushing the "dying" (dying because she's being replaced in Lars' mind with a real girl) doll in on a gurney with an oxygen mask on. She's then installed in a private hospital room to keep her alive. When she dies, there's an actual church service and a burial in the cemetery. It's the sex doll part of the equation that is so dangerous in the context of modern socio-politics. Firstly, that the entire community swallows lock, stock, and barrel their acceptance of Lars' bringing the doll to church, to do volunteer work, to the hairdressers, to parties, reflects our current climate to accept everything (pretend to accept everything for fear of consequences) that anyone declares or identifies with these days. Secondly, there's the fact that the movie sanctions socially anxious people replacing a girl with an inflatable date instead of trying to work through his challenges with humans. As I said earlier, it would have been a much better movie if Lars' becoming relational was with a dog or a stuffed animal. I can see it coming...parents, teachers, clergy, and friends now having to accept men being "in relationship" with sex dolls and having to go along with it. Another curious component of this plot is the office that seems to mostly be staffed by people with severe social awkwardness. Although to be a good human we need to respect others' limitations and give them help in life, imagine the staff of this office going on to have children when they can't work without action figures and stuffed animals at their workplace. I am a person with social anxiety, a "weirdo", who struggled all my life with my neurodivergent brain. I achieved fame and great success in my profession, but it took enormous effort. I would have hated for people to pander to my neurodivergence. I would have surely not have been so successful. I'm glad I needed to step up and figure out how to be with people. I tried several relationships. I don't get it. I live alone with my dog who is how I pour all the love in my heart onto another. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/09/25 Full Review NASHVILLE I Truly one of the best, most wonderful films in the last 50 years, let alone one of the best indies! This is why Gosling's one of the best. Man does he ever nail the internally tortured soul while still bringing out the beauty in his character, WITHOUT depressing the audience. The reason this movie's so good is that it manages to showcase adult loneliness and other difficult themese without ever depressing you. Instead, you feel a warmth and closeness. There's an unexpected sense of hope you feel throughout that isn't forced, that isn't disgustingly sentimental like other films put out. Give Lars a watch and you'll be thrilled you did. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/25 Full Review Will B Oddly strange heart warming film. It’s a grower, give it time. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/25 Full Review Eduardo M Surprisingly a very good movie about mental health and how a community can work together (to mobilize) and get past their own preconception about what is normal in order to help a person - a pleasant sense of community seen on the screen but not very often lived outside it. I am feel sorry for the adult audience that will not be able to do the same as the adults on the movie did - get past their preconception, focusing not on the fact that the doll plays an important role for the storytelling but in the empathetic message of the movie. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/15/24 Full Review Early W It is a bitter sweet tale of a man with severe social anxiety; he's delusional and has a fear of physical contact. I didn't find it funny as much as sad because of the reality that there are many men out there just like Lars. Gosling, who is often cast as a heart throb leading man, plays the socially inept Lars as if he has been doing it all his life. It is quirky at times and you can't help but feel the awkwardness in the room when Lars wheels in Bianca or the scene cuts to them sitting together at a party or church sermon. Yet, I think the film plays these moments off well without letting the cringe ramp up to unbearable levels. By the end you get a sense of satisfaction knowing that Lars has a lot of people in his life who care deeply for him, and he finally starts to realize this. Great acting, great script and direction. Definitely check it out. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/03/24 Full Review Read all reviews

Lars and the Real Girl

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