Lars and the Real Girl

Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) is a shy and retiring man living in the garage of his brother and sister-in-law’s house. He frequently tries to avoid contact with his friends, co-workers and family and when he does have to interact with others, conversation is stilted before Lars is able to escape. Despite the obvious interest of colleague Margo (Kelli Garner) Lars has no girlfriend so his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and Sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer) are shocked when one day Lars appears at their front door with the news that he has a house guest; a wheelchair bound, half Brazilian, half Danish missionary whom he met on the internet. Gus and Karin are initially overjoyed that Lars has met something but are soon startled to discover that ‘Bianca’ is in fact a Real Doll sex doll whom Lars is convinced is a real person. Worried about his mental health his family and friends all rally around Lars and attempt to welcome Bianca into the community while trying to get Lars the help that he so obviously needs.

The term rollercoaster ride of emotions is a little bit tacky and overused but it applies here. Every few seconds while watching this film I went from laugh out loud laughter to shock to sadness and back again. The film manages to be incredibly uplifting, sad and funny, often at the same time and features some great acting and an astonishing and original script.

Fright Night

Fright Night is a comedy horror which is neither funny nor scary. It is a remake of the 1985 film of the same name which I haven’t seen so cannot pass any judgement. The premise of the film is that central character Charley’s (Anton Yelchin) life is turned upside down when a vampire (Colin Farrell) moves in next door to the house which he shares with his mother (Toni Collette). Farrell’s vampire becomes hell bent on killing everyone Charley knows including his friend (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and girlfriend (Imogen Poots). It is up to Charley to save his friends and family and to save the day.

The film has a stylish look to it. Despite being set in the hot, bright desert (Las Vegas) the majority of the film seems to be set at dusk which gives a very eerie look to the proceedings. In the cinema, it was released in 3D but I watched it at home in 2D (as all films should be watched) and there were far too many pointless pointy things coming towards the screen. Maybe in 3D this would have looked good, though I doubt it. In regular 2D it was just annoying. Despite this the film did have a good horror look to it. It is a shame then that it wasn’t in the least bit frightening. There wasn’t even one moment where I was slightly worried or anxious. It fails miserably on the horror front. In terms of comedy, most of the comedic moments come from either Christopher ‘McLovin’ Mintz-Plasse or David ‘Dr Who’ Tennant but both of their roles are small and I felt could have been expanded. There were no real laughs to be had but the script did contain the odd witty line and was quite snappy and fresh sounding.

Colin Farrell was born to play a vampire. He gives off an air of dangerous sexuality to which the female characters (and my girlfriend) are drawn. He is very well cast and his accent holds up admirably. The rest of the cast were fine. Mintz-Plasse was excellent as I stated previously although he basically just recycled his McLovin character from Superbad. David Tennant has a good cameo, at first as a kind of Russell Brand impersonator but later as a character with depth and back story. He pulled it off well. Anton Yelchin is very good as the hero of the piece. He is turning into an actor to watch for the future. Imogen Poots had little to do to be honest but look pretty and scared and Toni Collette was agreeable, especially when flirting with Farrell’s character.

"You gotta' kill em' with a Crossy Woss"

The film could have been so much more had there been just a few more laughs or just some scary moments. There was potential for a very good film here with a strong cast and excellent central performance from Colin Farrell but in the end it turned into a bit of a damp squib. It isn't terrible but it is in now way good.

5/10