Before La La Land, the dream team of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling teamed up for a 2011 rom-com that stars pretty much everyone in Hollywood. Don't believe me? Let me rattle off a few names. Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Steve Carrell, Julianne Moore, Lo Tipton, Josh Groban, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, Joey King and... breathe.
The name of that movie is Crazy, Stupid, Love. and it was added to Netflix this month. This is a Shakespearean farce of a romantic comedy that sees pretty much every character in love with someone they can't be with. The highlight is Steve Carrell as Cal who, having recently split from his wife (Julianne Moore), channels all of the awkwardness of his The 40-Year-Old Virgin days (and a touch of Michael Scott) to try and meet women at a bar.
Having witnessed the inevitable car crash of social interaction, Jacob (Gosling) a prolific womanizer (because he looks like Ryan Gosling, duh) can't help but pity Cal and takes him under his wing as some kind of casual fling Yoda. Meanwhile, Jacob is having his own awakening, having been rejected for once by Hannah (Emma Stone).
At the same time, Cal's son realises he's in love with his babysitter, who in turn falls for Cal. Honestly, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Many movies have love triangles, but this one doesn't even have the structure of a shape, it's just a scribble of unrequited feelings and misunderstandings.
Saying much more would give things away but let's just say that the title isn't an exaggeration. Stupid is an apt description of some of the characters, but definitely not the script, which is both razor-sharp funny and super sweet. The way everything interconnects makes it the Pulp Fiction of rom-coms.
For those who can't have enough Emma Stone (AKA all of us) her upcoming movie Poor Things looks incredible, here's what to watch before it releases. If you're more of an action fan then Netflix has you covered too with an iconic Will Smith Sci-FI arriving on the platform this weekend (October 23rd).
