IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive
RottenTomatoes.com
Register | Log In | What is RT?
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Trailers & Pictures The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches by subscribing to our Google Subscribed Links profile.
 
Movies / On DVD / Lars And The Real Girl
Lars And The Real Girl

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Email to a Friend
  • Add to List
  • Bookmark and Share
  • Buy Poster External Icon

Lars And The Real Girl (2007)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
81 %
Tomatometer

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted: 121

Fresh: 98

Rotten:23

Average Rating: 7.1/10

Consensus: 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.

Rated: 12A

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release: 21-03-2008

Synopsis: As the title character, Ryan Gosling is a strange but likeable young man who manages to keep down a job but keeps mostly to himself. He only leaves the garage where he lives when his older brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and loving sister-in-law... As the title character, Ryan Gosling is a strange but likeable young man who manages to keep down a job but keeps mostly to himself. He only leaves the garage where he lives when his older brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and loving sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer) drag him to their house next door for dinner. Lars doesn't take well to questioning, so the disturbing level of his isolation is never openly discussed. It's only when he announces he has a girlfriend in the form of an anatomically correct doll he purchased via the Internet that everyone must admit his precarious mental state. No one quite knows how to help Lars, so they play along, careful not to do anything that might push him or Bianca (his plastic fiancée) over the edge. The results are touching efforts on the part of all those who love him to help Lars through what his psychologist (Patricia Clarkson) assures them may be only a stage. Kelli Garner shines as Margo, the real, live girl who Lars seems incapable of seeing. Despite being ignored, Margo hangs in there, hopeful Lars will come around to sanity and to her. Craig Gillespie's LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is a sweet love story and a film which deals with mental illness in surprisingly subtle ways. With a formula that could easily have manipulated for cheap laughs, the film achieves quirky humor in parts but mostly touching observations about the nature of delusions themselves. The film's talented cast gathers around Lars, a sensitive character who the film respects and who Gosling (THE NOTEBOOK, HALF NELSON) brings fully to life. [More]

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner

Director: Craig Gillespie

Director: Craig Gillespie
Screenwriter: Nancy Oliver
Producer: Sidney Kimmel, John Cameron, Sarah Aubrey
Composer: David Torn
Studio: MGM

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Lars And The Real Girl

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
03/25/08
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A strangely affecting romance with real heart — and another sign that Gosling is one of the best young actors around.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
03/20/08
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Sweet and honest, but not much more.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
03/20/08
Jonathon Williams
Little White Lies
Ratings Image

Cynics might find it precious, but open-hearted audiences will love it.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
12/13/07
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
09/22/07
Screen International
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

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.

Full Review Source: ReelzChannel.com | comment Comment
08/25/08
Heather Huntington
ReelzChannel.com
Ratings Image

A plea for compassion and understanding; its lack of the negative side of human nature almost makes it seem desperate in that regard, but overall it's deft at achieving its goal.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
06/09/08
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies
Ratings Image

It's a movie driving in neutral. It never really gets as clever, as emotional or as funny as I wanted it too.

Full Review Source: Triple j | comment Comment
06/08/08
Marc Fennell
Triple j
Ratings Image

The story may sound intolerably precious, but 'Lars and the Real Girl' is disarmingly sweet and quietly affecting.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
06/05/08
Rossiter Drake
San Francisco Examiner
Ratings Image

Lars and the Real Girl proves love is blind - and it can be inanimate as well.

Full Review Source: Washington Times | comment Comment
04/21/08
Christian Toto
Washington Times
Ratings Image

a strange flick

Full Review Source: sbs.is | comment Comment
04/09/08
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is
Ratings Image

A kind of Invasion Of The Silicone Body Snatchers, this weirdly affecting tall tale is about a loony guy and his entire delusional small town falling in PG love with a certainly not politically correct but irrefutably anatomically correct, well, sex doll.

Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment Comment
04/06/08
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
03/28/08
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

This charmer of a film is one that you will never forget. It's funny, overtly moving and uplifting. I want to see it again

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
03/26/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Ratings Image

while without question funny at times (and sad at others), [it is] never mocking, degrading or lewd - a true miracle for a film about one man's relationship with a sex doll

Full Review Source: Eye for Film | comment Comment
02/28/08
Anton Bitel
Eye for Film
Ratings Image

Don't let the movie's premise turn you off to what is one of the most affirming, gratifying films you'll see this year.

Full Review Source: Colorado Springs Gazette | comment Comment
02/28/08
Brandon Fibbs
Colorado Springs Gazette
Ratings Image

The speech Gus gives his pregnant wife, Karin, about letting Lars live in the garage and become what he is deserves more recognition than many of the performances up for Academy Awards.

Full Review Source: Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine) | comment Comment
01/25/08
Gina Carbone
Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine)
Ratings Image

As sweet a portrait of small town life as you are ever likely to see.

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
01/16/08
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
01/15/08
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Ratings Image

Weird on paper, strangely and sweetly affecting onscreen. See it. You won't regret it.

Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah) | comment Comment
01/02/08
Bruce Bennett
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
all

Latest News for Lars And The Real Girl

July 17, 2008: David Gordon Green: From Indie Auteur to Pineapple Express Opens in new window
David Gordon Green might seem like an unusual choice to direct Pineapple Express, but as it turns out, the man behind the camera for Snow Angels and All the Real Girls was a... More...

June 05, 2008: Gosling, Gillespie Start The Dallas Buyers Club Opens in new window
Ryan Gosling will re-team with his Lars and the Real Girl director, Craig Gillespie, for the based-on-a-true-story drama The Dallas Buyers Club. More...

April 14, 2008: RT on DVD: Juno, AVP2, and Dungeon Siege
If you're not sick of hearing Diablo Cody this, hamburger phone that, then this week's bonus-packed release of Juno should be numero uno on your list, home skillet. Otherwise,... More...

January 23, 2008: Ryan Gosling Starring in Jack Ryan Franchise Reboot?
Romantics swooned over him in The Notebook, and critics loved his turn as the doll-toting lead character in last year's Lars and the Real Girl -- and if the latest rumors are... More...

See More Topics...

Related Forums for Lars And The Real Girl

This needs saying...
by: samthescript 7/7


You got to be kidding me!!!
by: countingcoup 7/5


Had potential, but falls very flat.
by: djherb 6/6


Boring / Horrible
by: PCristiani 5/25


It's a pisstake!
by: aussiegreg 4/23
See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
FRESH: 1 93% Iron Man
FRESH: 2 85% Forgetting Sarah Marshall
ROTTEN: 3 50% Sex and the City - The…
ROTTEN: 4 52% Leatherheads
ROTTEN: 5 12% Made of Honor

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
ROTTEN: 35 35% You Don't Mess with the Zohan
ROTTEN: 18 18% The Happening
FRESH: 75 75% Paranoid Park
FRESH: 93 93% The Visitor
FRESH: 71 71% Stuck

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Mirrors

Mirrors

Alexandre Aja talks exclusively to RT!

Best Animated Movies

Best Animated Movies

Which films top RT's list of the greats?

RT's Costume Guide

RT's Costume Guide

Dress to impress this Halloween!

The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom

New pics of Rachel Weisz' latest!

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Steve Carell to Get Smart again.
16
  • Goyer Debunks Every Single TDK Sequel Rumor Source: MTV
42
  • Weekly Ketchup: Branagh directs Thor, Seagal vs. aliens?
90
  • The Net Reacts to 25 Minutes of Watchmen Footage
50
  • Brett Ratner Is Your God of War Source: UGO
24
  • Kenneth Branagh Directing Thor? Source: Variety
36
  • First Shots of Mia Wasikowska as Burton's Alice Surface Source: Slashfilm
2
  • Bill Murray Talks Ghostbusters 3 Source: Ain't It Cool News
19
  • Weekly Ketchup: Johnny Depp to play Tonto in The Lone Ranger
47
  • Exclusive: David Carradine Cameo in Crank 2 says Statham
2
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Bill Murray's Best Movies
45
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Chihuahua is Top Dog
42
  • Critics Consensus: Express Scores, Body of Lies Falls Flat
31
  • RT on DVD: The Future of Watchmen, Plus Sleeping Beauty, Touch of Evil Remastered
30
  • Weekly Ketchup: Steve Carell to Get Smart again.
8
  • Box Office Guru Preview: Audiences Surrounded by Lies
6
  • Exclusive: The Fall - Tarsem's Visual Companion - Part 2
3
  • Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D
2
  • Meet Corey Feldman Courtesy of RT
1
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Exclusive: Alexandre Aja talks Mirrors and Piranha 3D
2
  • RT Interview: Jason Statham Chats Death Race, Crank 2 and The Sweeney
9
  • Video Exclusive: Gerard Butler talks RocknRolla and 300 sequel with RT
13
  • Video Exclusive: Maria Bello, Brendan Fraser and the Mummy 3 Cast Talk to RT
14
  • RT goes behind the scenes on Stargate: Continuum
4
  • Starship Troopers' Casper Van Dien Shares His Five Favorite Films
48
  • RT Interview: Philippe Petit on Crossing the Twin Towers on a Wire
2
  • RT Interview: David Duchovny on The X-Files, Californication and Directing
11
  • RT Interview: Ben Barnes on Taking on the Journey of Prince Caspian
1
  • RT Interview: William Moseley on His Last Narnia Adventure in Prince Caspian
2
 
 

Around The Network

  • Lars And The Real Girl at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Lars And The Real Girl at IGN