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Lars and the Real Girl Play Trailer

Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

tomatometer

81

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 135
Fresh: 110 | Rotten: 25

Lars and the Real Girl could've so easily been a one-joke movie. But the talented cast, a great script, and direction never condescends to its character or the audience.

80

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 8

Lars and the Real Girl could've so easily been a one-joke movie. But the talented cast, a great script, and direction never condescends to its character or the audience.

audience

83

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 99,017

My Rating

Movie Info

Lars (Ryan Gosling) and Gus (Paul Schneider) are the grown children of a father who died recently and a mother who died giving birth to Lars. But as brothers, they couldn't be more different. While Gus lives in the family home and has a loving wife (Emily Mortimer) and a child on the way, Lars leads a more reclusive existence in the family's garage, hiding in plain sight of his small, wintry hometown. Painfully shy and eccentric, Lars fails to recognize that his co-worker Margo (Kelli Garner)

PG-13,

Comedy

Nancy Oliver

Apr 15, 2008

$5.8M

MGM/Sidney Kimmel Entertainment - Official Site External Icon

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Lars and the Real Girl Trailer & Photos

Critic Reviews for Lars and the Real Girl

All Critics (145) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (113) | Rotten (28) | DVD (18)

Craig Gillespie's 'Lars and the Real Girl' Is an Off-Beat, '70s-Like Charmer that Could Have Been the Third Side of a Bud Cort Trilogy

December 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Passionate Moviegoer
Joe Baltake
Passionate Moviegoer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Under Mr. Gillespie's admirably directed seriousness of tone, the performers, particularly Mr. Gosling, Ms. Mortimer, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Clarkson, Ms. Gardner and Mr. Reid, never miss a beat.

November 15, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Observer
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

...we're surprised to find that it's possible to feel a real emotional attachment to an anatomically correct girl made of quality plastic.

November 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Film.com
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Lars and the Real Girl remains suspended somewhere between perversity and pap, with only Gosling hinting at the mingling that might have been.

November 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comments (2)
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A sweet little fable about how a delusional man-child is helped by the loving ministrations of his family and community, the kind of throwback flick where human nature is seen as inherently good -- a notion so quaint that it feels damn near buoyant.

November 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Initially sounds perverted but ends up being just the opposite.

October 26, 2007
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Lars And The Real Girl is a film without compare, about as far removed from conventional comedy as it's possible to be.

October 14, 2012 Full Review Source: TheShiznit.co.uk
Ali Gray
TheShiznit.co.uk

Sweet, sad and funny...an entertaining fable about the phenomenon of socially crippled singles. [Blu-ray]

May 8, 2011 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

Nancy Oliver's sincere, graceful script about working through grief with the help of tolerance and patience deftly avoids introducing artificial drama. And, as Lars, the reliably terrific Ryan Gosling gives a warm, earnest performance.

September 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com
Nick Rogers
Suite101.com

A delusional but sweet psychological drama about a young man treated for a bizarre delusional disorder with unconditional love.

August 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comments (2)
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Overall, an imperfect gem. In its successful attempt to go for the heart, "Lars and the Real Girl" stumbles a bit. I would have cast Michael Cera in the lead role.

August 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | Comments (8)
Ross Anthony
Hollywood Report Card

No es una gran película, pero sí una historia original que logra llegar a buen puerto y hasta conmovernos. Estupenda labor de Ryan Gosling.

November 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total

It's certainly not a bad movie, but not everything it could've been.

August 31, 2008 Full Review Source: ABC News (Australia)
Marc Fennell
ABC News (Australia)

This script by Nancy Oliver (Six Feet Under) is a delicate, bittersweet, and often sad story of a lost, fragile man and the people who love him.

August 25, 2008 Full Review Source: ReelzChannel.com
Heather Huntington
ReelzChannel.com Source: ReelzChannel.com

Sex doll takes center stage in quirky comedy.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment (1)
Cynthia Fuchs
Common Sense Media
View all critic reviews (145)

Audience Reviews for Lars and the Real Girl

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This is a sly and yet oh so whimsical film about love, loneliness, and the human condition. At its heart it's about one person's long journey from secluded loner to acknowledged friend. The premise surrounds Lars, a man who basically gives up the house he inherited to his brother and his pregnant wife to start their family and goes and lives out in the back shed. He is quiet, contemplative, and obviously mournful of his parents, especially his mother who died when he was young. He is reclusive, and somewhat antisocial, but it's obvious that his family cares about him, that his co-worker likes him, and that he is not ready to advance in the world with so much grief stored up. Enter Bianca, who Lars christens as his girlfriend, and who he brings everywhere with him. The catch is that Bianca is a sex doll, one that is very expensive at that, and Lars follows the delusion that she is real by insisting that she is paraplegic, unable to dress herself or really take care of herself. He goes through the delusion, and everyone around him has to indulge in order for him to move on with his life, including his entire church, his family, and friends and co-workers. The film remains quirky the entire way through, but it is very heartbreaking. As he begins to go through the stages towards acceptance he begins to lose interest in his polyurethane friend and invents barriers between the two of them. As the film unfurls you realize the depths of his own awkward isolation. Not only that but because of his lingering adoration for an inanimate object, and the emotional impact attached to it, everyone around him slowly realizes just how deep and scarred he really is, and that makes everyone adore him all the more. The relationships that are built from his attachment to the doll are really the most important aspect of the film as a whole. Besides being quite off-beat, this film tells a lot about grieving, and a lot about how we deal with the extreme losses in our lives.
December 13, 2008
FrizzDrop
Spencer S.

Super Reviewer

This concept could have bombed in many ways. How do you compellingly film a relationship involving a synthetic, inanimate being? "Cast Away" did it with a volleyball, but the script didn't have to arrange Tom Hanks' character introducing Wilson to his coworkers and loved ones. Absurdity and compassion mix in just the right portions here, gently showing examples on how to be a person. The story progression is tidy, but out of necessity, not laziness or shallowness. The characters have depth and intrigue and are all likeable. I wasn't at all ready to leave any of them.
March 7, 2013
Matthew Slaven
Matthew Slaven

Super Reviewer

Lars and the Real Girl Quotes

View All
    1. Gus: You become an adult when: you decide to do right... and not just for you, but for everybody... even when it hurts.
    – Submitted by Dan F (3 months ago)
    1. Lars: Well, you're never gonna believe this...see Bianca's from the tropics...she's Brazilian...oh and Danish...
    – Submitted by Lisa N (6 months ago)
    1. Lars: [after giving some flowers to Bianca] See they're even fake so they'll never die.
    – Submitted by Kenny C (21 months ago)
    1. Gus: A delusion? What the hell is he doing with the delusion for christ sake?
    – Submitted by Aneth F (22 months ago)
    1. Lars: I was talking to Bianca, and she was saying that in her culture they have these rites of passages and rituals and cermonies, and, just all kinds of things that, when you do them, go through them, let you know that you're an adult? Doesn't that sound great?
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)
    1. Karin: They never fight
    – Submitted by Elisa C (2 years ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Lars und die Frauen (DE)
  • Une fiancée pas comme les autres (FR)
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