Carell and Gosling double-team for 'Crazy, Stupid Love'

MANILA, Philippines - In the first scene of Crazy, Stupid, Love, Steve Carell’s character gets some shocking news from his wife: she wants a divorce (it’s in the trailer, so you can save those gasps of “Spoiler!”). Immediately after that, the scene ends. So begins a string of interesting rhythms and notes that feel like they belong in an independent film, with the occasional clipped editing, fast overlapping dialogue, attention to quirky facial expressions/reactions, and genuinely interesting character development.

In his depressed, occasionally drunken stupor, Carell meets Ryan Gosling’s Jacob, the penultimate ladies man, whose smooth-talking charismatic personality would make snake oil salesmen green with envy. Taking pity on Cal (Carell), who reminds him of his late father, Jacob takes him under his wing and decides to help him get his groove back.

Amazingly, what at first seemed like a sideways take on a Hitch-sounding plot has yielded, thanks to some smart directing and a clever script, ably supported by quality actors, what is inarguably the best romantic comedy of the year thus far. In fact, I found myself hard-pressed wondering what was the last romantic comedy I enjoyed as much. While it’s common to effusively praise the latest indie film or foreign arthouse import, you don’t really come across romantic comedies you want to lavish with platitudes. Mostly because so many get made, and let’s face it, most of them suck. A case could be made that it’s actually harder to come up with a good romantic comedy as opposed to a good “art” film, precisely because so many of them are being made, both by mainstream studios and smaller companies, that seeing one that feels fresh, with wit and charm and real moments, feels like stumbling upon a diamond in the rough. It’s a testament to the abilities of the filmmakers that even scenes you expect and see coming are delivered with enough craft and talent that you still find yourself impressed nonetheless.

I kept thinking to myself over several scenes while watching the film, “That’s a nice touch,” or “Good direction in this sequence.” So much so that I realized I don’t usually praise the direction in a rom-com. But it’s earned here. The filmmaking duo behind I Love You, Philip Morris do a great job here, from staging mise en scène to jump cuts for comic effect to a wonderful scene where Carell and Julianne Moore lie to each other over the phone, but it comes across as sweet and romantic. The actors make that scene sing, too: put weaker actors in there and that scene would fall apart, come across as cloying and treacly. All the adult actors cast here are good in this film, but the surprise is how good the kids are. Jonah Bobo as Cal’s son Robbie plays a great heart-on-sleeve kid who is a little too honest, and Analeigh Tipton, who plays Robbie’s babysitter and the object of his affection, is a revelation.

All around, the actors are solid. Even the casting of Josh Groban as the dullest human being alive, “the human valium,” according to the token sassy best friend (who is Asian this time! And part-Filipino, at that! Yay for diversity!), is an inspired casting decision.

The writing is no slouch, either: one of my favorite sequences is an almost “anti-sex scene” where what you thought you wanted to happen doesn’t happen and you find yourself not minding. That might sound confusing, but in this case I definitely don’t want to spoil anything. There’s another brilliant scene where the characters announce beforehand what is going to occur, but when it does, it’s still magical (and a nod to Dirty Dancing).

If there are any flaws, they’re in one or two scenes where not only ridiculous events occur, they occur frequently, sometimes at the same time, straining believability. But as with family, it’s easily forgiven when you’re already endeared to the characters, and it’s hard to resist their charms when delivered with such confident aplomb.