Film
Aug 19, 2011

CRAZY STUPID….LIKE

“You must go see Crazy Stupid Love,” my best friend’s husband told me recently.  “It will change your life.” Change my life? Says a BOY?  About a ROMANTIC COMEDY?  Oh, beloved TBS reruns of Sex and the City, you must wait. Because I need to get me to a theater A-S-to-the-A-P to see Crazy Stupid Love. Two hours and thirteen dollars later, my life was pretty much the same.

The same…with the exception of Ryan Gosling’s ‘humminah-humminah’ chiseled bod having been forever etched into my mind’s eye.  And as appealing as that was (and it was), I didn’t figure that was why my best friend’s husband so adamantly encouraged me to hit up Fandango.  Well…I really HOPED it wasn’t.  (Don’t worry.  That’s not where this blog is going!)

There’s nothing obviously wrong with Crazy Stupid Love.  The story is cute, the characters are cute, the writing is good…and at points, very smart…and there are some perfectly wonderful moments of heart and humor and topless boys – all things I truly appreciate in modern cinema. So why didn’t it CHANGE MY LIFE?  And more importantly, why did it change his?

After much deep thought and consideration (seriously), it hit me.  The absence of a life changing experience may not have been because of anything negative on the part of Crazy Stupid Love. Quite the opposite, in fact.  It may actually be due to the fact that Crazy Stupid Love is the first romantic comedy made for men.  Wait…just hear me out.  The protagonists are guys.  The women are crazy nutcases.  Amongst the glorified are an unabashed womanizer and a pre-pubescent Casanova.  And the ending?  (Spoiler alert.)  Not definitively happy.  Plus…and this is my most buoyant argument…there is a dude makeover scene!  Yes, I’m talking a Clueless-Devil Wears Prada-Pretty Woman-esque two-story-mall makeover scene…dude-on-dude.  Mhmm.  A romantic comedy for guys.

Much in the same way that I cannot fully convey to any testosterone-bearing human the life-changing splendor of Sleepless in Seattle, Knocked Up, or Notting Hill, I wonder if it is in fact my lady-ness that prevents me from appreciating Crazy Stupid Love the way my best friend’s husband appreciated it…along with a number of other guys who have expressed to me their enjoyment of the movie.  And to that I say: bring it on!  There should be romantic comedies for men – just like there should be action shows for chicks (or as I like to call it, Game of Thrones).  In our world of ever-growing, postmodern media and content, there is no limit to who can enjoy what…as long as it’s well-made.

Long story short: Life changing?  Not for me.  Game changing?  Absolutely.