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Lars and the Real Girl
MGM


7.9

based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 77 votes
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FILM:

Mr. Woodcock

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sex-related content

Starring Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Kelli Garner, and Paul Schneider

Lars and the Real Girl is the touching, amusing, and humorous story about a man whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, Lars invites Bianca, a friend he met on the Internet, to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his brother Gus and his wife Karen and they are stunned. They don't know what to say to Lars or Bianca--because she is a life-size doll, not a real person, and he is treating her as if she is alive. They consult the family doctor, who explains that this is a delusion he's created--for what reason, she doesn't yet know, but they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him. (Kimmel International)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Nancy Oliver
DIRECTED BY:	Craig Gillespie
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 15, 2008 Theatrical: October 12, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	106 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

It's nothing less than a miracle that the director, Craig Gillespie, and the writer, Nancy Oliver, have been able to make such an endearing, intelligent and tender comedy from a premise that, in other hands, might sustain a five-minute sketch on TV.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The movie is an idyllic view of life as it ought to be, rather than the way it is.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The creators of this film were fiercely determined not to go so much as a millimeter over the line into sentiment, tawdriness or mockery. It's the rare film that is the best possible version of itself, but "Lars" fits that bill.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Gosling's performance is a small miracle, not only because he's so completely open as a man who's essentially shut off, but because he changes and grows so imperceptibly before our eyes.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

How this all finally works out is deeply satisfying. Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains. A character says at one point that she has grown to like Bianca. So, heaven help us, have we.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

When a movie about a guy who orders a sex doll off the Internet can turn vice into virtue, something miraculous has occurred. Lars and the Real Girl achieves that kind of miracle.

Premiere Howard Karren

Lars's attraction to Bianca is like an audience's to an actor onscreen -- the object is fake, an approximation, but for some that's better than flesh and blood. Bianca is a work of art. And so is Lars and the Real Girl.

USA Today Claudia Puig

At a time when romantic comedies seem to have exhausted unique ideas, along comes Lars, an original, amusing and heartfelt tale sharply written by Nancy Oliver (Six Feet Under).

The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore

A deep, sweet-hearted study not only of one lonely character but also of the community that supports him.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Both hilarious and poignant, with a Capraesque humanity that caught me completely off guard.

Empire Helen O'Hara

A strangely affecting romance with real heart -- and another sign that Gosling is one of the best young actors around.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

It takes a village, I've heard it said. It takes a village not only to raise a child but also, in this case, to aid the delusional and help restore good mental health. Or so Lars and the Real Girl would have us believe.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Initially sounds perverted but ends up being just the opposite.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Gosling is excellent playing a character who's fundamentally unknowable.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Of course, entire books have been written, and perused by disappointed women, about the male reluctance to put away their fantasized Biancas. In that sense, Lars and the Real Girl is real indeed. In every other, it's a sweet, bordering on saccharine, bagatelle.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Working with a doll can't be easy, but Gosling actually makes it feel emotionally real. A scene where he shares an imaginary dance with Bianca, with his eyes closed and a beatific smile on his face, is by itself worth the price of admission.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A gentle comedy, offbeat but never cute, never lewd and never going for shortcut laughs that might diminish character.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

While "quirky" is a good descriptor for the production, Lars and the Real Girl isn't so bizarre that mainstream movie goers will reject it. This is an offbeat independent production that could become one of those big little fall surprises.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

It's a tribute to the filmmakers and cast that by the end of Lars and the Real Girl, you can almost accept that Bianca is, well, a real girl.

Newsweek David Ansen

Gillespie’s movie walks a delicate line through a minefield of potential bad taste. Directed with patient, low-key sensitivity, it never goes for a cheap laugh at its protagonist’s expense.

Variety Alissa Simon

Helmer Craig Gillespie's sweetly off-kilter film plays like a Coen brothers riff on Garrison Keillor's "Lake Woebegone" tales, defying its lurid premise with a gentle comic drama grounded in reality.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Often howlingly funny, and the actors are a treat. But the underlying message is so suspect that it’s hard to suspend disbelief.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

A sweet little comedy, as easygoing and warmly innocuous as the benign irony of the title.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

By movie's end, it seems like the only one giving a truly genuine performance is Bianca. Mouth-agape, steadfastly mum.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

You can approach it as a surreal story -- you'd have to, to find value in it -- but happy chuckles are miles away from the point.

Slate Dana Stevens

Heartfelt but muddled film.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

In spite of the title, there's nothing particularly "real" about Lars And The Real Girl, just a couple layers of quirk several stops removed from the world as we know it.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Really, I think we put up with Lars at all only because Gosling has such an affinity for the wounded boy birds he tends to play that it's easy to watch him do his thing.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

It’s part comedy, part tragedy and 100 percent pure calculation, designed to wring fat tears and coax big laughs and leave us drying our damp, smiling faces as we savor the touching vision of American magnanimity. It holds a flattering mirror up to us that erases every distortion.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Gosling is the film's salvation: He really is good enough to make this underwritten fantasy feel as though it amounts to something. But it doesn't.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

I find Lars and the Real Girl adorable in the worst way, bailed out only by most every member of its excellent cast.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Lars and the Real Girl wobbles in a slow, toneless no-man's-land between mawkish and schmaltzy while trafficking shamelessly in heartland stereotypy.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 77 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rory P. gave it a6:
Realism and character detail are undermined by the central conceit (that a whole town would be willing to play along with such an odd delusion.) There loving efforts to include Lars simply become unbelievable after a certain point, or at least, the progression of their efforts are not made believable enough for this viewer. The plot is also quite predictable. Saying that there are some nice performances (Emily Mortimer is a stand out) and the dialogue is nicely judged. The production values are also quite good. Not a bad film by any means, just weighed down by noticeable flaws.

Diane M. gave it a2:
Although I love quirky, critically acclaimed films, my personal opinion is that this one stunk. I kept hoping it would get better or more realistic, but it didn't. It reminded me of something a high schooler would write for a class.

Craig A. gave it a9:
Just incredible. I am in awe of Ryan Gosling's acting abilities.

sharee c gave it a10:
I absolutely loved this film. I found myself falling in love with the beauty and support of the entire community in order to help Lars rise above his emotional baggage. In the real world, I think we all could learn something from them.

Jay P. gave it a10:
Thoughly enjoyed. It was funny yet poignant without being sickenly mawkish. A Canadian gem.

Liz W gave it a10:
This is one of the sweetest, funniest movies I've ever seen.

Linda L. gave it a9:
A film with unusual sweetness and quirky charm, with excellent acting all around. Yeah, there's an air of fable about it; you have to go with the flow. It occurred to me later that these not-quite-believable people might possibly populate the odd little town of St. Olaf, which Rose of "Golden Girls" was always telling quirky stories about.

Lars and the Real Girl MGM

Lars and the Real Girl
MGM