The Thousands

The Real Doll phenomenon turns the squick-factor of the Uncanny Valley into something that could be produced by Mattel’s "Sexy Nightmare" division. (You can read more about Doll Love here, but maybe wait until you get home.)

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL takes this premise, drops it into a small town, and leaves poor Ryan Gosling to generate chemistry with his silicone love interest. At first, the screenplay puts every foot wrong, only interested in awkward laughs. It leaves Gosling wet with flop-sweat from his valiant attempts to make the introverted Lars a credible human character.

But damn it if the film doesn’t slowly manage to work some magic. As Lars’s relationship with the doll progresses, the film becomes more about his own complicated psychology and the sweet depiction of the family and community around him – like HARVEY, but with a sex doll instead of an invisible rabbit.
**What saves the movie’s first act is the spot-on performance of Paul Schneider as Lars’s brother. He functions brilliantly as audience proxy: someone who just can’t accept the ridiculousness of the premise he’s being asked to swallow, but still can’t help but care.