The Flawed Logic of Crazy, Stupid, Love
- Jules Robinson
- Aug 27, 2018
- 5 min read
The wildly popular Crazy, Stupid, Love is now available on Netflix. I took another look at this well-received hit and found myself struggling with one trope that seemed a little too hypercritical…
*Spoilers ahead*
The movie starts with three characters facing unsuccessful or unrequited love. The first is Cal (Steve Carell) who receives an unceremonious breaking-up-with by his wife Emily (Julianne Moore). Cut to the couple’s babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton) lamenting over Cal himself and then cut to Cal’s son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) as he professes his love to the babysitter despite being thirteen and she seventeen. These romantic conundrums are set up and, one is to assume, each character will go through varying degrees of upset before learning, collectively, that love is in fact unpredictable and unfair and crazy and stupid.
But then another character is introduced, that of charismatic Jacob (Ryan Gosling). Jacob is written pretty well and played with expert precision by Gosling who seems aware of the Sleaze Line that should never be crossed but can happily be danced upon. Jacob works as Cal’s mentor, helping him into a new lease of life whilst also guiding him towards the lifestyle Jacob enjoys- pursuing women. We’re also introduced to Hannah (Emma Stone) who, later in the film, begins a relationship with Jacob. For me, the interplay between Cal and Emily and Jacob and Hannah is the most interesting. Cut out everything else and I’d be writing a different review. The arch that takes Jacob from being an, arguably likeable, but otherwise advocate of The Game and pin-up boy for wanabe misogynists to a man suddenly becoming vulnerable and experiencing what it means to truly respect women is, for me at least, the most compelling part of the plot. Give that enough screen time and it has the potential of holding up the film all on its own. Cal and Jacob are stark opposites for a reason, they need each other and why not explore that fully?
Instead, we have the two teenagers with their own plot lines. Not that these aren’t interestingly written, but it is the approach to the young Robbie’s situation in particular that irks me the most. Robbie has an unrealistic fascination with his babysitter Jessica. The crush grows from unrealistic to impossible when Jessica is first propositioned by Robbie shortly after discovering him masturbating. Jessica makes it clear that she does not return the feelings and this echoes, in some part, Jessica’s own experiences with Cal. Jessica admits to having a crush on Cal as he drives her home, but he is too caught up in his thoughts to notice. Jessica should not be with Cal and we know this as an audience for many reasons the first of course, being that she is a child. Another reason is that we are already invested in Cal’s heartbreak and want to see him happy, preferably with the wife he is still in love with.
About half way into the film, Robbie confesses to his father that he fancies a girl by saying, “She’s my soulmate and she doesn’t even care.” Cal’s response, instead of asking if she seems interested or if they’d even had a conversation yet, is to say, “But she’s your soulmate, right? You just don’t give up on her, right?” By this point, Robbie has already 1. Professed his love which didn’t work out 2. Professed his love again 3. Sent a slew of messages to the girl resulting in her texting ‘please stop. You are making me uncomfortable’ 4. Professed his love publicly in a purposefully humiliating manner. Cal’s character wasn’t to know all of this but what the film is doing during these previous moments isn’t saying ‘how sad/worrying that these things are happening’ but rather, how funny that Robbie is so persistent. Cal’s advice that you shouldn’t give up on your soulmate is all well and good but only if you’re a male protagonist. Cal gets to speak openly about his love for Emily with her seeming to reciprocate and Robbie receives a complete one-eighty by Jessica who suddenly is able to not only flirt with the young boy but gift him nude photos of herself originally taken for his Dad. (Side note- it also bothers me when movies depict boys and men as being so sexually obsessed that logic leaves them completely. Even a horny youth would still find the dirty snaps a bit repulsive considering they were meant for his Dad, right?) Emily’s soulmate in her eyes, Cal, is off limits because she got it all wrong and should have listened to that rampant, annoying and creepy thirteen-year-old this whole time. Jessica didn’t realise that in some movie universes it’s only the guys that get their romantic way (see Love Actually for ref.)
Crazy, Stupid, Love is not a bad film, it is in fact entertaining, quotable and in most parts, well-written. Jacob and Hannah’s relationship feels the most genuine and supportive and, like I said before, could easily hold a film up on it’s own. The finale in the garden when each of the plot-lines come crashing together is hilarious and brilliantly acted. And the part of the movie where Cal watches as Emily fakes a maintenance issue only to have a chance to speak with him is one of the best plot devices I’ve seen from a rom-com. But CSL tries to have its cake and remain snug inside the pre-set rules of patriarchal romance. Jacob is a ‘bad guy’ for pursuing women the way he does because they’re fleeting exchanges and he is unaware that true intimacy is much more rewarding. But Jacob also, very obviously, moves on from women with ease. Hannah in their first meeting, turns him down and, whilst being pushy, Jacob seems to shrug off the exchange and go on to seduce many more women. Robbie, however, is told that romantic and emotional intimacy is not only that best kind of intimacy but is also his right as someone who has claimed a soulmate. He refuses to take no for an answer and pursues Jessica with more blind-vigour than Jacob does with any of his conquests. The writers of Crazy, Stupid, Love could have made several interesting comments on modern romance with their movie, but instead they went down the cliché’d route of showing that persistence, no matter how unwanted, will prevail if you’re a guy who believes himself in love. Weirdly, this seems to leave the overall message of the film as ‘love and relationships are unpredictable but one should fight for our soulmates (and kind of ignore their wishes too)’. This is a cliché now overworked and at best, boring but at worst, down-right damaging.
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