Lars and the Real Girl
Grade: B+

Director Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock) takes on the formidable task of crafting a psychologically complex slapstick comedy, and he nearly pulls it off. The amazing Ryan Gosling gained 50 pounds to play Lars, a lumpy introvert who comes out of his shell when he starts dating a life-size plastic woman he buys on the Internet. The second half of the film is surprisingly moving and satisfying, but many of the early scenes resemble bad SNL sketches. Patricia Clarkson is wonderful as Lars’s doctor.