Crazy Stupid Love and 50/50

Yes, yes I realize I am a lot behind on this little blog but I'm having a baby so cut me a break. I went to see 50/50 with a friend and her husband who decided 2/3rds of the way through it to start fighting about whether or not he was crying during one of the more heart-wrenching scenes. I honestly didn't care if he did or not I just wanted them both to shut up so I could watch the rest of the movie. They did not do me that small favor. Ugh. The movie was good. There were some things I hadn't seen done before - a very cute scene with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's love interest and her messy car and some genuine acting on Seth Rogan's part. If you can handle Seth Rogan's oh-so-annoying chuckle which occurs far too often in any of his films, it's worth watching.

Crazy Stupid Love seemed over-edited to me. The rapid pace at which "playa" Ryan Gosling is transformed into devoted boyfriend reeks of scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. And all the subplots came to a collision in a very abbreviated and somewhat melodramatic "fight" scene that wasn't nearly built up enough to count as the climax of the film. The denouement that follows is dull, expected, and undeserved. Anything that was funny was in the previews and despite all the high class and expensive cast I was less than impressed. Marisa Tomei still can't break out of her extreme acting - "My biological clock is ticking like this!" And Steve Carell just isn't believable as super-dad. He leaves his kids alone every night to go to the bar and yet the babysitter is impressed by his devotion to his children? I didn't buy it. Wide-eyed Emma Stone is in every movie these days and yes she's cute, but she has zero range. If my lesson in watching the film was not to give up on love I'm afraid I remain unconvinced.