At first, I didn’t like Steve Carell as an actor. I was not too fond of his Michael Scott character from The Office but what really sold me on Steve Carell was his performance in Dan in Real Life. I really enjoyed that movie and his performance as a single dad raising three girls was so subtle that it made me decide to give The Office a shot (turns out I do enjoy that show).

In Crazy, Stupid, Love, Carell brings in some of that subtle performance from Dan in Real Life and some of the comedy that he is known for.

In fact, the entire cast is hilarious down to the supporting players in small roles like Josh Groban who plays Emma Stone’s law firm colleague and boyfriend, had me laughing. Liza Lapira, who plays Stone’s friend, Liz, was also hilarious.

The basic premise is that Carell plays Cal Weaver who one day, his wife (Julianne Moore) of 25 years announces wants a divorce and had an affair with a work colleague (Kevin Bacon). This sends Cal into a depressive tail spin until he meets Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), a womanizer, in a club. Jacob takes Cal under his wing to teach him how to be a ladies man so that he can get over his.

However, for Jacob, things get complicated when he falls for Hannah (Emma Stone) who initial rebuffs his pick-up lines.

Inter-spliced with all this adult romantic drama is Cal’s 13-year old son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo) who is in love with his sister’s 17-year old babysitter (Analeigh Tipton) who in turn has a crush on Cal. You can see where hilarity can ensue.

What makes this film work is the performances from the entire cast. We all know that Ryan Gosling is hot but who knew he could also be so darn funny. Also, Bobo, is just great as Robbie, he not only brings in the laughs but offers some real maturity that sometimes the adult characters lack.

The script by Dan Fogelman is witty and charming with some nice drama added to it. There was a nice twist in this film that I didn’t see coming.

It was great to see Stone in a more adult role and not playing the usual teenage characters that she does and I enjoyed her chemistry with Gosling. Moore also had good chemistry with Carell. Marisa Tomei does bring in the laughs in her small role.

I do have to say that Crazy, Stupid, Love is probably one of the better films that I have seen this year.