Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

A movie about a man who falls in love with a sex doll seemed a bit curious, but Lars and the Real Girl had got such good reviews, I had to see it.

First and foremost, I must tell you to suspend your trepidation. The star of the film Bianca is indeed an actual full sized anatomically correct very realistic looking doll, but this film has no sex in it, implied or otherwise. Read on, and you will understand.

Lars (Ryan Gosling) is a lonely social misfit who lives in the garage behind his brother and sister-in-laws house. Gus (Paul Schneider) and Karin (Emily Mortimer) do everything they can to get Gus's younger brother out of his shell, but to no avail. Lars holds a job, goes to church, and completes the activities of daily living, but he seems almost afraid of human contact. We see how Lars reacts to women when an older woman at his church attempts to steer him towards a young single woman, Margo (Kelli Garner) who attends their church and works with Lars. He looks at her and almost runs to his car to drive away.

One day at work, his coworker Kurt is surfing the net for porn, and tells Lars about a site realdoll.com that sells realistic sex dolls. Six weeks later, UPS delivers a large box to Lars garage. Gus and Karin are surprised when Lars tells them that he has a visitor who will be staying with him for a while and he wants them to meet her. Bianca is from Brazil and she needs a wheelchair. Because she doesn't speak English, she is very shy, and rarely talks. Gus and Karin are so happy that Lars has met someone that they invite her in.

We in the audience first see the shocked and stunned looks on Gus and Karins face before finally panning to the vacant stare of Bianca. To me, Bianca looked like an incredibly life like mannequin (but this movie was nothing like the silly 80s comedy Mannequin). Lars requests that Bianca be allowed to stay in the guest room of the house, because as a single woman, it would be inappropriate for Bianca to stay in the garage with Lars. Gus is concerned that his brother has finally gone insane and needs to be committed to a mental hospital. They take Lars and Bianca to the local doctor and psychologist, Dr. Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson). She examines Bianca to create a pretext to see Lars. After meeting with Lars she recommends to Gus and Karin that they go along and acknowledge that Bianca is real.

It was from here that the film really took off as a bittersweet and touching comedy. As Lars continues to see Dr. Dagmar, we realize why he is in such pain, and why he needs his imaginary friend to break out of his self imposed prison. In the mean time, the town is told of Lars problem and they all take Bianca under their wing and (only in movie land) no one judges Lars for his relationship with a doll. In fact, as the film progresses, Bianca takes on a life of her own, and for moments, you almost forget that she isn't real. I don't want to say much about the rest of the film, but to give one example, Bianca gets a job.... as a department store mannequin. Ultimately, Bianca helps Lars become a real boy himself.

My Thoughts on the film and the concept

First, I have to say that the acting from everyone in this film was spot on wonderful. Ryan Gosling plays Lars with just the right amount of pain and shyness that you can really believe in his character. Emily Mortimer as Karin, Lars sister-in-law was terrific, you could see that she really cared about her brother in law and wanted him to be happy. Also outstanding was Kelli Garner as Margo, the real girl who liked Lars but has to wait in the sidelines while Bianca helped him overcome his shyness. Even the actors who portrayed the towns people made it seem as if the movie was shot in a real midwest town.

I also felt that director Craig Gillespie handled the subject of falling in love with the doll with tact. He never goes for the obvious jokes or the low brow jokes that you might expect since Bianca is, after all, a sex doll. For Lars, Bianca is not a sex doll at all, but a companion, a friend, and a way for Lars to face his problems and move on.

The film also did a good job of pointing out that all of us laughing at Lars aren't as without our own hangups as we may think we are. Kurt, his co-worker becomes quite upset that Margo took 3 of his action figures and threatens to take it out on Margo's stuffed teddy bear. Margo was quite upset later in the film when Kurt takes reprisals against the bear. The film reminded me that many people live in quasi fantasies at some points. The internet itself is a vast fantasy life for many that is about as real and unreal as Bianca. We laughed at how everyone accepted Bianca and treated her as real for Lars benefit. Yet, anyone with children has probably at one point or another had a conversation with a teddy bear or another stuffed animal. Anyone with pets talks to them as if they understood English perfectly well. The town of Trey Parker and Matt Sstone's South Park all accept Mr. Garrison's hand puppet Mr. Hat. My favorite comic strip is about a boy and his stuffed tiger. Yet every reader knows that Hobbes is as real as Calvin's imagination.

Ultimately, this film was charming and shows how people can accept others, even those overcoming serious problems.

Summary

Can I recommend a film about a man and his life like doll? Yes, with five stars at that. Give Lars and the Real Girl a chance, you will be glad that you did.


This is my entry into Captain D's Good Movies Oct-Nov 2007 Write Off

Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older