Lars and the Real Girl Movie Review by Ryan A. Loera

Stars:
Ryan Gosling - Lars Lindstrom
Emily Mortimer - Karin
Paul Schneider - Gus
Kelli Garner - Margo
Patricia Clarkson - Dagmar

Director: Craig Gillespie
Screenplay: Nancy Oliver
Release Date: October 12, 2007
Genre: Comedy-drama/Indie film
Rated PG-13

Lars and the Real Girl is an interesting movie, to say the least.

Lars Lindstrom  (Ryan Gosling) is an extremely shy guy who finds it difficult to socialize and make friends. Even talking to his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer) can be a very daunting task to him.

Then, one night, Lars tells Gus and Karin that he's met someone via the internet. They are surprised and pleased to hear that he is finally opening up enough to start dating.

Moments later, Gus and Karin are shocked beyond belief when Lars introduces them to Bianca the life sized love doll. They immediately jump to conclusions and believe that Lars has lost his mind.

Lars remains completely calm and relaxed as he explains where Bianca came from. He tells them she's from Brazil and did missionary work for a number of years until she decided on a change of scenery. She was also stricken with a terrible disease at a young age which caused her to be confined to a wheelchair from then on. Her wheelchair and luggage were of course stolen upon her arrival in the United States.

Gus and Karin then decide to get Lars some psychiatric help. So, they convince Lars to take Bianca to see their local physician Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson).

While Lars and Bianca wait in the waiting room, Gus and Karin speak with Dagmar in her private office. Dagmar has both an MD and a PhD. She quickly comes to the conclusion that Lars' recent lapse in sanity is not due to depression or any other kind of chemical imbalance.

Lars has adopted a delusion. If for no other reason than to help him work through his social anxieties.

Gus and Karin then inform their community of neighbors to ensure they'll be able to tolerate it. Unfortunately, most of their neighbors have trouble tolerating it at first but they eventually do.

One person who never really shows any signs of intolerance is Lars' coworker Margo (Kelli Garner). Although, Margo's crush on Lars no doubt helps her see past the possibility of Lars being clinically insane.

This movie doesn't have tons of fancy CGI effects or intense action sequences but it doesn't need them. Instead, it relies on a great original story and a very skilled cast.

On a scale of 1 tamale to 10 tamales I give Lars and the Real Girl 8.5 tamales.

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