Lars and the Real Girl
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: October 12, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
6
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
It's nothing less than a miracle that the director, Craig Gillespie, and the writer, Nancy Oliver, have been able to make such an endearing, intelligent and tender comedy from a premise that, in other hands, might sustain a five-minute sketch on TV. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The movie is an idyllic view of life as it ought to be, rather than the way it is. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The creators of this film were fiercely determined not to go so much as a millimeter over the line into sentiment, tawdriness or mockery. It's the rare film that is the best possible version of itself, but "Lars" fits that bill. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Gosling's performance is a small miracle, not only because he's so completely open as a man who's essentially shut off, but because he changes and grows so imperceptibly before our eyes. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
When a movie about a guy who orders a sex doll off the Internet can turn vice into virtue, something miraculous has occurred. Lars and the Real Girl achieves that kind of miracle. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
At a time when romantic comedies seem to have exhausted unique ideas, along comes Lars, an original, amusing and heartfelt tale sharply written by Nancy Oliver (Six Feet Under). Read full review
88
PremiereHoward Karren
Lars's attraction to Bianca is like an audience's to an actor onscreen -- the object is fake, an approximation, but for some that's better than flesh and blood. Bianca is a work of art. And so is Lars and the Real Girl. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
How this all finally works out is deeply satisfying. Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains. A character says at one point that she has grown to like Bianca. So, heaven help us, have we. Read full review
80
EmpireHelen O'Hara
A strangely affecting romance with real heart -- and another sign that Gosling is one of the best young actors around. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
A deep, sweet-hearted study not only of one lonely character but also of the community that supports him. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Both hilarious and poignant, with a Capraesque humanity that caught me completely off guard. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
It takes a village, I've heard it said. It takes a village not only to raise a child but also, in this case, to aid the delusional and help restore good mental health. Or so Lars and the Real Girl would have us believe. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A gentle comedy, offbeat but never cute, never lewd and never going for shortcut laughs that might diminish character. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Initially sounds perverted but ends up being just the opposite. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Gosling is excellent playing a character who's fundamentally unknowable. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Of course, entire books have been written, and perused by disappointed women, about the male reluctance to put away their fantasized Biancas. In that sense, Lars and the Real Girl is real indeed. In every other, it's a sweet, bordering on saccharine, bagatelle. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
While "quirky" is a good descriptor for the production, Lars and the Real Girl isn't so bizarre that mainstream movie goers will reject it. This is an offbeat independent production that could become one of those big little fall surprises. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's a tribute to the filmmakers and cast that by the end of Lars and the Real Girl, you can almost accept that Bianca is, well, a real girl. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Working with a doll can't be easy, but Gosling actually makes it feel emotionally real. A scene where he shares an imaginary dance with Bianca, with his eyes closed and a beatific smile on his face, is by itself worth the price of admission. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Often howlingly funny, and the actors are a treat. But the underlying message is so suspect that it’s hard to suspend disbelief. Read full review
70
VarietyAlissa Simon
Helmer Craig Gillespie's sweetly off-kilter film plays like a Coen brothers riff on Garrison Keillor's "Lake Woebegone" tales, defying its lurid premise with a gentle comic drama grounded in reality. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Gillespie’s movie walks a delicate line through a minefield of potential bad taste. Directed with patient, low-key sensitivity, it never goes for a cheap laugh at its protagonist’s expense. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A sweet little comedy, as easygoing and warmly innocuous as the benign irony of the title. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
By movie's end, it seems like the only one giving a truly genuine performance is Bianca. Mouth-agape, steadfastly mum. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
You can approach it as a surreal story -- you'd have to, to find value in it -- but happy chuckles are miles away from the point. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Really, I think we put up with Lars at all only because Gosling has such an affinity for the wounded boy birds he tends to play that it's easy to watch him do his thing. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Gosling is the film's salvation: He really is good enough to make this underwritten fantasy feel as though it amounts to something. But it doesn't. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
It’s part comedy, part tragedy and 100 percent pure calculation, designed to wring fat tears and coax big laughs and leave us drying our damp, smiling faces as we savor the touching vision of American magnanimity. It holds a flattering mirror up to us that erases every distortion. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
Heartfelt but muddled film. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
In spite of the title, there's nothing particularly "real" about Lars And The Real Girl, just a couple layers of quirk several stops removed from the world as we know it. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
I find Lars and the Real Girl adorable in the worst way, bailed out only by most every member of its excellent cast. Read full review
30
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Lars and the Real Girl wobbles in a slow, toneless no-man's-land between mawkish and schmaltzy while trafficking shamelessly in heartland stereotypy. Read full review
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