A Boy Meets Sex Doll Story
Part of what made Six Feet Under one of the greatest TV series ever was that hidden in every totally freakish and hilarious act was a deep, emotional core, just about to emerge. So leave it to a former writer for the show—Nancy Oliver, with her first produced screenplay—to take the story of ordering an anatomically correct, life-size sex doll on the Internet and turn it into one of the sweetest films of the year.
Lars and the Real Girl (out October 12) follows small-town Lars, a young man who has shut himself off emotionally from the world. Played by current prince of the indies Ryan Gosling, Lars is sad-eyed and ill kempt, a mass of quiet ticks. Still, he manages to charm his neighbors—and us—as he pushes his new “girlfriend,” Bianca, around town in her wheelchair.
As he did with last year’s fantastic Half-Nelson, the Oscar-nominated Gosling has taken a small movie and elevated it to something much bigger, with his full-fisted embrace of Lars. A stellar supporting cast (the elegant Patricia Clarkson is wonderful as a psychologist who encourages his neighbors to engage in the delusion) also helps Lars offer a dreamy vision of small-town America as accepting of all kinds of people—even those made of silicone.
Lars and the Real Girl will be released October 12 by MGM.
Lars and the Real Girl (out October 12) follows small-town Lars, a young man who has shut himself off emotionally from the world. Played by current prince of the indies Ryan Gosling, Lars is sad-eyed and ill kempt, a mass of quiet ticks. Still, he manages to charm his neighbors—and us—as he pushes his new “girlfriend,” Bianca, around town in her wheelchair.
As he did with last year’s fantastic Half-Nelson, the Oscar-nominated Gosling has taken a small movie and elevated it to something much bigger, with his full-fisted embrace of Lars. A stellar supporting cast (the elegant Patricia Clarkson is wonderful as a psychologist who encourages his neighbors to engage in the delusion) also helps Lars offer a dreamy vision of small-town America as accepting of all kinds of people—even those made of silicone.
Lars and the Real Girl will be released October 12 by MGM.
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