Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Lars and the Real Girl is a gentle comedy drama about loneliness, isolation and recovery in the modern age. Ryan Gosling plays Lars, a painfully introverted single male office worker who finds acceptance and comfort in his bonding with a full-sized doll he's named Bianca. He introduces the doll to his family and friends who try to support and accept Lars despite the strange devoted relationship he has with the inanimate object of his affections. Soon, even those who doubted Lars begin to care about Bianca, and he learns to interact with others as he explores connection, discovering the possibility of his being able to finally bond with a co-worker, Margo (played by Kelly Garner). Never silly, laugh-out-loud funny, offensive or bawdy, Lars and the Real Girl is subtle and situational, slow and a bit somber. Like in the movie Her, there's a certain plausibility in the premise of someone growing attached to a doll (or, as in that film, an A.I.) as actual social interaction declines and some turn to alternatives; he forms a platonic fantasy around a realistic sex doll until he's ready to move on. Bianca could easily have been an android or a poster-Lars just wants a friend. Not for everyone...but somewhat fascinating as an unusual love story.

Erik M.