2008 Woodie Awards
Actor woos blow-up doll in offbeat dramedy
By: Nikole Brown
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Lifestyle
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In his film directorial debut, Craig Gillespie makes you fall in love with the oddest of oddballs. "Lars and the Real Girl" stars Ryan Gosling as Lars, an awkward and shy guy who likes his privacy.
Living in a small, snowy northern town, he spends his time between the confined spaces of his work cubicle to his garage apartment behind his brother's house. In the meantime, citizens of this town - including Lars' sister-in-law Karin, played by Emily Mortimer - are intent on Lars finding love. One day, a box arrives, and Lars announces to his brother Gus, played by Paul Schneider, and sister-in-law that he has found the love of his life - a RealDoll named Bianca. RealDolls are life-size and realistic sex dolls complete with all the female parts. Let the mayhem ensue.
Gus and Karin go to the doctor in hopes of "fixing" Lars, but they find out there is nothing to fix. Lars suffers from a delusion. In his mind, Bianca is a real person, and he will only stop believing she is real when he psychologically doesn't need her anymore. The only thing this small town can do is play along in hopes of helping this good-natured, shy guy.
When people hear there is a film coming into theaters that features a man and his sex doll, they could assume a list of depravity is involved. They are wrong in this case. "Lars and the Real Girl" has no sex, and it's not even implied. Actually, Lars lets the audience know early on that Bianca is a former missionary and wants to wait until marriage. So while Lars stays in the garage, Bianca has a room in the house with Gus and Karin. There is actually one "real" girl involved. She's a plain-Jane co-worker of Lars, played by the lovably quirky Kelli Garner, who just wants Lars to notice her.
Garner adds to the sweetness of this film when she wages war on Lars' cubicle mate by stealing his office action figures. In retaliation, he attacks her stuffed bear. While she cries in the office kitchen, Lars comes in to console her by doing CPR on the bear. Her vulnerability and obvious gentle nature leave you hoping she finds love with Lars.
Living in a small, snowy northern town, he spends his time between the confined spaces of his work cubicle to his garage apartment behind his brother's house. In the meantime, citizens of this town - including Lars' sister-in-law Karin, played by Emily Mortimer - are intent on Lars finding love. One day, a box arrives, and Lars announces to his brother Gus, played by Paul Schneider, and sister-in-law that he has found the love of his life - a RealDoll named Bianca. RealDolls are life-size and realistic sex dolls complete with all the female parts. Let the mayhem ensue.
Gus and Karin go to the doctor in hopes of "fixing" Lars, but they find out there is nothing to fix. Lars suffers from a delusion. In his mind, Bianca is a real person, and he will only stop believing she is real when he psychologically doesn't need her anymore. The only thing this small town can do is play along in hopes of helping this good-natured, shy guy.
When people hear there is a film coming into theaters that features a man and his sex doll, they could assume a list of depravity is involved. They are wrong in this case. "Lars and the Real Girl" has no sex, and it's not even implied. Actually, Lars lets the audience know early on that Bianca is a former missionary and wants to wait until marriage. So while Lars stays in the garage, Bianca has a room in the house with Gus and Karin. There is actually one "real" girl involved. She's a plain-Jane co-worker of Lars, played by the lovably quirky Kelli Garner, who just wants Lars to notice her.
Garner adds to the sweetness of this film when she wages war on Lars' cubicle mate by stealing his office action figures. In retaliation, he attacks her stuffed bear. While she cries in the office kitchen, Lars comes in to console her by doing CPR on the bear. Her vulnerability and obvious gentle nature leave you hoping she finds love with Lars.
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