It doesn’t happen often that I get a strong desire to see a particular film

Lars and the Real Girl

Let me explain. Typically I hear about a movie and decide that I want to watch it for some characteristic, be it a nice premise, a director I like or an actor I like. I am also a completionist, so I desire to see all films by a director I like. In the case of the Coens for example, I am explicitly counting the number of films I am at. But most of the times, I would just put them onto my mental “want to watch” list and forget about them forever.

For “Lars and the Real Girl”, I was ecstatic when I saw that it showed up on Netflix, and I wanted to see it right away. The premise is just so awesome! I don’t think I have ever heard of anything better than this. Awkward main character buys a Real Doll and presents her as his girlfriend. I fell in love with that idea immediately, ever since Gorp mentioned the film for the first time.

Unfortunately, my love affair with the film ended. There is much to love about the film – lovely Emily Mortimer, a great Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clarkson (!) and a bunch of very touching moments. The film is funny at times, yet always tasteful and sweet. (I loved the scene where Lars revives Margo’s teddy bear!) It’s just… while I appreciate the niceness of the townspeople and was genuinely touched by it, all of it felt strangely fake. If “Winter’s Bone” was about a depressing world with a glimpse of hope, then “Lars and the Real Girl” is about an excruciatingly good world with a glimpse of sadness. I just don’t buy that level of goodness, and maybe that is the reason why the film felt endlessly dragged out to me.

Another thing that bothered me was how – ultimately – Lars was just inconveniencing everybody and acting selfishly in a strangely unpleasant way. I guess I just don’t buy how the entire town is making an effort to accomodate Bianca into their lives, and that it is supposed to be meaningful in some way. Did she actually make anybody’s life better? Or bring anybody closer? Apparently not. All I see is that Lars’ odd behavior is jeopardizing his brother’s marriage and his own relationship with a perfectly lovely girl. (In fact, too unrealistically lovely, if you ask me.) Having a Real Doll as a girlfriend is one thing, but imposing onto others with it is a completely different thing.

Maybe my expectations for the film were just too high. “Lars and the Real Girl” is a good movie that was, for some reason, just not good enough.