Lars and the Real Girl Review by Chris Kaatz

Lars and the Real Girl was directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Nancy Oliver. This movie could be viewed by an audience consisting of any age, however the younger the audience is, the harder it would be for them to understand what is happening.
The basic plot of the story is that a man named Lars has gone a little crazy. For the longest time, he isolated himself in his house, and then he bought a sex doll so that he would have a companion. He never used her for sex purposes, but he did talk to her. Lars treats the doll as if she was a real person, and it forces the rest of the town to do the same.
This movie teaches an interesting lesson in acceptance. Everyone is different, but everyone shares the need to be accepted. God wants us to accept each other. His plan for us was that we would love each other and be kind towards one another. In this movie, Lars is the social outcast. He is not accepted by others that quickly, but everyone learns how to deal with him. The town becomes really obsessed with helping Lars with his problem. They even start accepting Bianca, the doll, as a real person. We should always be accepting of each other no matter who they are or what they are going through.

Shiva Garshasbi

02-09-10

UNST Wall-E

Lars and the Real Girl Review

This week we were assigned to watch the movie “Lars and the Real Girl”. This movie was directed by Craig Gillespie, and written by Nancy Oliver. The story is about this very lonely, shy, and awkward guy named Lars Lindstrom who lives in a room behind his brother’s garage. His brother along with his sister-in-law, are concerned about him finding the right woman. Eventually Lars announces that he has indeed found a girl over the internet. To everyone’s shock and surprise, it turns out to be a lifelike doll he ordered from an adult website.

Thinking his brother is nuts, Gus convinces Lars to go to a psychologist. The psychologist then suggests that they treat the doll, named Bianca, like a real person. As time goes on Lars introduces “Bianca” to everyone in the town. And they all treat Bianca as if she were a real person, knowing about Lars’ mental state. As the people accept Bianca, Lars communicates and interacts with more and more people.

Eventually this leads to Lars meeting a real living girl named Margo, which is where the title of the movie comes from. As Margo and Lars become closer, one day Lars claims that Bianca is sick. Bianca is rushed to the hospital and the news isn’t very good. Eventually she does die, and the entire town shows up to her funeral. And Margo and Lars find solace in each other.

I think since the idea of Bianca being alive was all in Lars’ head, when he became attached to Margo, he did realize to some extent that Bianca was in fact not as real as he believes, and indeed cannot fulfill Lars’ emptiness, and need for a companion who understands him. So in order to be with the real girl that he wanted, he needed to let go of the idea of Bianca.

At first some people might think that this movie is a complete comedy. And in most points it is. But what is different about this movie is, a sex doll is being used not for its intended purpose, but for love and companionship. There are some awkward scenes where the reactions of the different people are just hilarious, but they don’t stay so skeptical. They adapt and change.

This film was so touching. The way that the entire community change and evolved itself in order to accommodate Lars’ emotions was so sweet. Instead of treating him like a crazy person and ignoring him or casting him aside, they played along and treated his doll like a real person in hopes that he truly does find the happiness they think he deserves.

This film definitely shows how people can love, and how God’s love shows through us all. At first people were skeptical, but they loved Lars, and they wanted him to be happy, no matter how he went about gaining his happiness. They accepted him and Bianca, just as God accepts us, no matter how messed up we might be.

Marty's Review

Monique Gramling
UNST
Pastor Sam
2/9/10

Lars and the REal Girl

Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Nancy Oliver, the film Lars and the Real Girl is a pleasant and delightful film about a timid unsocial man who gets involved in a relationship with a sex doll that he has ordered off the internet. In my opinion, this comedy/drama would be considered by many as risque because of its naughty sounding premise. However, i believe that most younger people would understand that the films risque nature actually serves to underscore (the main character) Lars' decency and goodness. Because Lars' intentions with Bianca (the sex doll,) are pure, I would recommend this film to people of all ages. For instance, it was obvious that Lars' had some sort of psychological disorder, when it came down to interacting with people, and everyone noticed it. Yet, when he was with Bianca, the people around him actually treated her like a real person; which ultimately assisted in him coming out of his shell. I also liked the way that both Lars and Bianca were extremely religious. Church and religion were both essential parts of their lives. This movie really showed me the importance of treating everyone with respect, no matter their qualities or characteristics. It seemed as though Lars' affection for Bianca was due to unconditional love, no judgment or criticism, and more often than not, I think we as a society are too quick to judge others because of their "uniqueness" rather than the content of their character. Furthermore, I perceived his family and community as being supportive; coming together, not in hopes of him leaving Bianca, but in hopes for him to get to the point, where he can eventually treat real humans like he did Bianca. This film really reminded me of how Jesus informs us to do unto others, as we would have them do unto us, for if we judge others, we too will be judged by his father.

The Gospel According to WALL-E: Lars and the Real Girl

I've always wanted to see this movie. Now that I got the chance to watch it finally, I really liked it. When I was told to look for how the community responded to Lars and his relationship with Bianca, I thought they would be unreceptive to it. However, even though people looked at him quizzically, they still accepted him to a certain degree. The scene that sticks out in my mind the most is when Lars and Bianca go to the office party and everyone is putting on a smile and making them feel welcome. Even though they sent out a memo before hand, letting everyone know that they needed to put on a smile, they still proved that community can be had, no matter the circumstances.

This movie, though weird at times, is really well made. Ryan Gosling is a phenomenal actor and he played the role of Lars really well. It takes a skilled actor to play a role such as this and he did it very well. The acting in this movie, over all was well done. The roles were cast appropriately and the script was well written. Over all, this was a very interesting, intriguing film to watch. =)

Lars and the Real Girl

Alexander Alonso

WALL-E

2.9.10

Lars and The Real Girl Review

Lars and the real girl was written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie.

In the beginning of the story, the preacher gives us a forshadowing of the movie. He says “..we need never ask, Lord what should I do?, because the Lord has told us what to do. Love one another….Love is God in Action.” The movie starts with a lonely man who lives in his garage. He is very quite and to himself. His mother died when he was young and he was left with his father, whom was sad all the time. All this played a huge role on his life. He was so lonely he ordered a sex doll, not for sexual use, but for a compainion to speak with and love. Her name was Bianca. His siter in law, Karin, was always loving to him, always trying to make his feel at home and doing what ever she could to help him. Her husband, Gus, kind of gave up on Lars at first but eventually accepted him and Bianca. I liked the part in the movie when Karin and Gus went to the church to see if they would understand the situation. Some were hesitant, and others were very supportive, but I like it when the oder gal stated all the weird things that everyone else had on their plates. I was reminded me that we need to stop judgein gpeople, and think about what Jesus would do for us.

Another point I really liked about this mmovie was the community. At first, many thought that Lars was insane. Though he was, the community came together to help him. It also showed the love that Karin and Gus, and the rest of the community, had for Lars. They never left him even when it seemed he was lost in space.

I was really confused at first, but I got the main message…at least I think I do.

Love at all times. Love one another. Love is God at work, making for a new future.

Lars and the Real Girl