Anyone who claims Jason Reitman's Juno to be the funniest movie at this year's Toronto International Film Festival obviously didn't see Lars and the Real Girl, a subtler comedy written by Nancy Oliver ("Six Feet Under"), directed by Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock) and starring Ryan Gosling as Lars, a sullen lonely man who buys a lifelike sex doll on the internet. Things might not go where some expect from hearing that high concept for comedy, since Lars' relationship with his new "girlfriend" Bianca isn't about sex, and in fact, it sets this up to be one of the truly surprising and touching comedies of the year.

Until the point where Bianca is introduced, Lars' brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law Karen (Emily Mortimer) have been worried about him, because whenever he's not working, he's locked away by himself in the garage apartment where he's lived since their father's death. Unbeknownst to Lars, his adorably perky co-worker Margo (Kelli Garner, nearly unrecognizable but equally cute with short red hair) has had a long-time crush on him, but he ignores her as he remains lost in his own world. When he turns up one day with "Bianca", his new girlfriend (who doesn't speak much), Gus and Karen think that he's playing a gag, but they soon realize that Lars is very serious, as he acts as communicator between Bianca and the rest of the town. They bring him to the town doctor (the always great Patricia Clarkson) under the pretense that Bianca needs a check-up, when in fact, the doctor is using the time to talk to Lars and analyze his own mental well-being.

More than just a 90 minute advertising for Real Doll, the realistic (and very expensive) love dolls that actually do exist, this is a terrific subdued comedy in the vein of "Six Feet Under" or Tom McCarthy's The Station Agent--ironically, McCarthy's second movie The Visitor, which premiered at Toronto, starred "Six Feet Under" star Richard Jenkins--and while at first, most of the humor comes from the reactions people have to Lars' affections towards Bianca, everyone around Lars cares enough about him that they start "playing along" until it gets to the point where they see Bianca as being just as much a real woman as Lars does.

Most of the film's biggest laughs comes from the sight gags involving Bianca, who Lars pushes around in a wheelchair, but just as you think they've shot their load with what can be done with this simple idea, they throw in a few twists. Soon enough, you'll also be marveling at Lars' love for this inanimate object and how it brings the town together.

As much as one can enjoy the film for its hearty laughs, it's just as momentous for the spotlight it shines on Ryan Gosling as one of the finest young actors in Hollywood. With this role, he proves that he's already reached the level of dedication to a role that we've only seen from the likes of Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. Besides the obvious weight Gosling gained for the role, he actually makes himself look like he's ten years older, sporting an unhip moustache and clothes that make him look more like Rupert Pupkin than the teen heartthrob he's become. Even so, Gosling is able to show more emotion in a single facial expression than many actors can show by delivering the best written lines, and he also brings a lot of humor to the role with Lars' quirky behavior.

Emily Mortimer is delightful in this role that shows more sides to her than we've seen in other recent roles, and Paul Schneider is very funny as Lars' deeply cynical brother.
Kelli Garner is also terrific as Margo, Lars' unrequited lover, who creates a very strange love triangle when Bianca enters the picture and the relationship between these three plays a large part in what makes the film so special. It's equally impressive that Gillespie, whose first movie was an overt slapstick Hollywood comedy, is able to play down the humor in a way that makes it even funnier, much like Alexander Payne has done in his movie, particularly About Schmidt.

I watched this movie with a big goofy smile on my face and at times, a tear in my eye, something that very few movies can achieve. Anyone who's ever felt lonely will be able to relate to Lars' situation and enjoy what ends up being a truly warm and wonderful film that works in a similar way as Once by using simpler storytelling to explore very deep human emotions.

Rating: 9/10

Lars and the Real Girl opens in select cities on October 12.

Noah Baumbach's last movie The Squid and the Whale was a tough movie to love, because it was about the ugliness of divorce involving mostly bad people who do and say mean-spirited things to each other. What pulled it through and made it work was having Jesse Eisenberg's character (supposedly representing a teen Baumbach), wading through it all, and the resolution of the various character arcs justified and even absolved some of the ugliness. Margot at the Wedding never offers that option, and any illusion from the title that it's about a wedding or about marriage should be immediately discarded. This is not a light or a particularly fun look at a dysfunctional family that lives up to the promise of Squid, but a dark and dreary mess that leaves you feeling as if you've been forced to watch something that no one should ever be forced to watch.

As it opens, we see Margot (Nicole Kidman), a successful novelist, taking a train to the Hamptons with her young son Claude to attend her sister Pauline's wedding, but also to continue a fling she's having with a fellow writer who lives in the area. Margot and her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh aka Mrs. Baumbach) used to be the best of friends, but their relationship has been shakier in recent years, and Margot is not afraid to tell Pauline how she feels about her fiance Malcolm (Jack Black), a bumbling musician who offers very few virtues or prospects.

Baumbach's latest treads some of the same ground as the semi-autobiographical Squid and the Whale, perhaps acting as a prequel of sorts, as it features another writer doing irrevocable damage to her impressionable son by being such a bad parent. Unfortunately, we're never given any reason or opportunity to like or relate to any of these dysfunctional characters as they squabble, and unlike Lars and the Real GIrl, any intended humor is so subtle that it's barely worth a snicker. If Baumbach really intended to make a dysfunctional family comedy, then he might have been better off just going all out (like what was done with Death at a Funeral) rather than trying to be so cover and elusive with whether things should be funny or not.

Most of the scenes seem rather random and esoteric rather than doing anything to maintain the illusion that there's any sort of actual storytelling in play here. In one scene, Nicole climbs a tree; in another, she spies on the neighbors as they prepare a whole pig for a luau. The rest of the time, she's either bitching, complaining, telling off her son or squabbling with her sister and her fiance, and much of the movie is comprised of scenes of this group of characters sitting around and talking about nothing that would be of interest to anyone but themselves.

While I'm not usually one to take shots at actors for making bad career choices, Nicole Kidman seriously needs to start finding better material. Her performance here is stronger than some of her other recent movies, but this is not a role that will endear her to those who've endured her other crappy movies, and this character is not going to make anyone think better of her. Margot is a mean, ugly person who makes verbal attacks on her sister and son--again, much like Laura Linney's character in Squid--and even when the movie shines the mirror back on her flaws, most of which we've already seen in action, she's never given a chance to atone or be apologetic about her behavior, especially when things start to fall apart in Pauline and Malcolm's relationship due to Margot's interference. Even with all of the exposition that packs this movie, we never fully understand where Margot is coming from and why we should care about whether she'll change.

Jennifer Jason Leigh's Pauline has a few saving graces, so it's easier to side with her in her many arguments with Margot, but ultimately, the movie is more of a showcase for Jack Black to do "the Jack Black thing" although he goes so over the top with it that he really does come across like a buffoon, rather than the lovable idiot of his mainstream comedies. He offers some of the movie's few laughs, but Malcolm is also such an unlikable character, not helped by really unfunny lines like him telling Pauline that he wants to punch her sister.

Essentially, this is being sold as a dark comedy without being particularly funny and even when things get more serious, Black brings the already weak material down further by hamming it up and making it impossible to believe his character is genuinely upset over a particular incident. Maybe Baumbach was trying to give Black a chance to show off his dramatic chops, but that being the case, he should have reeled him in a bit rather than letting him go overboard with the silliness. John Turturro shows up briefly as Margot's estranged husband, but he's there and gone almost as fast as Margot and Pauline's mother and sister, who we merely see from across the street.

Even so, it's hard to enjoy this movie because quite frankly, it looks like complete and total sh*t. Baumbach decided to use a similar low-fi approach to the filming that he did with Squid and the Whale, embracing the Dogme ethos by using only natural light and handheld cameras. Because of this, the entire movie just looks dark and ugly, something that worked fine for Squid's Brooklyn divorce themes, but doesn't do justice to the beauty of the Hamptons setting or Baumbach's comely female cast.

While this movie can't officially be called a sophomore slump being Baumbach's fifth movie, it's a tragically atrocious roadblock in the momentum Baumbach established with his previous movie, neither recapturing any of that magic nor paving any new ground.

Rating: 4.5/10

Margot at the Wedding opens November 16.