Daphne (my very pregnant wife) and I went to a screening of Lars and the Real Girl tonight. I could wax poetic and try to build suspense but I'll just cut to the chase and say that we absolutely loved it. In fact, after the film we tried to figure out what the cast and crew could have done to improve on it and we could not name one thing. That is an extremely rare occurrence for us.
The film is described as follows:
Written by "Six Feet Under" scribe Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real" Girl is a heartfelt comedy starring Academy-Award nominated Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom a lovable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his Brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife Karen (Emily Mortimer) and they are stunned. They don't know what to say to Lars or Bianca – because she is a life-size (sex) doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) who explains 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.
Check out the trailer:
This movie is at once absolutely hilarious, very sad and deeply moving. It is the first time I have seen a film made in my lifetime in which the church is represented as a loving Christ-like community that, through its actions, influences an entire town to do much more than "go along with it." The people of God become the kingdom of God in this film and I found that a pure joy.
Check out this scene entitled "church meeting":
I could not more strongly recommend this film. Please see it in the theater. Take your church group, class, Bible study, or just go by yourself (it's a good date movie too) to see Lars and The Real Girl. It would be great if Christians across the country support this film opening weekend (it comes out October 25). If the droves of people that crowded theaters to see their savior crucified in The Passion of the Christ went to see a film that shows the power of the resurrected Christ in the lives of his followers, Hollywood would be much more likely to make more films of this nature about real people in today's world, rather than:
- horribly acted/produced/directed/written or cheesy sports movies,
- end-times crap films with bad theology,
- or just re-tellings of Biblical stories again and again and again.
