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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: You'll pardon me if I feeling like urping just a tiny bit at screenwriter Nancy Oliver's blend of pathos and heartland condescension. Read more
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Almost impossibly sweet, a tale of love and kindness that's funny without being snarky. Read more
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Both hilarious and poignant, with a Capraesque humanity that caught me completely off guard. Read more
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: 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 more
Scott Tobias, AV Club: 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 more
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Sweet, moving and heartfelt aren't necessarily the first words that come to mind when describing the tender tale of a young man and his sex doll, yet all three apply to Lars and the Real Girl. Read more
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Lars and the Real Girl is poised on the line between earnestness and farce. Read more
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This is a film whose daring and delicate blend of apparent irreconcilables will sweep you off your feet if you're not careful. Read more
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Before you recoil in horror at the apparent grossness of yet another Hollywood high concept, you need to know that Lars and the Real Girl is anything but an exploitation film. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: It's the script by Nancy Oliver, the very idea of the thing, that steals your heart. Kink has never felt so sweet and decent. Read more
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Will no one talk to Lars honestly about the pitfalls of dating a golem? Read more
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com: ...we're surprised to find that it's possible to feel a real emotional attachment to an anatomically correct girl made of quality plastic. Read more
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: The most poignant, well-acted and weirdly funny movie you'll see this year. Read more
Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: While the film pulls a few punches, its off-kilter sweetness is as inoffensive and likable as a tepid cup of cocoa. Read more
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: How painful to watch Ryan Gosling, one of the most elastic actors of his generation, smirk and gawp and grimace his way through Craig Gillespie's smarmy little number. Read more
Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: It's a premise as fanciful as Jimmy Stewart's Harvey, and yet the movie has a sweetness that manages to be pixilated and plausible at the same time. Read more
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Through small gestures and bold choices, [Gosling's] created a character you begin feeling sorry for and end up rooting for and almost envying, simply because he's found something (someone?) that makes him feel whole and alive. Read more
Jan Stuart, Newsday: What's remarkable about Lars and the Real Girl is the tightrope that [screenwriter Nancy] Oliver finesses, aided by her director and winning cast, between improbability and reality, edgy absurdist humor and melting tenderness. It's a tonic. Read more
David Ansen, Newsweek: Directed with patient, low-key sensitivity, it never goes for a cheap laugh at its protagonist's expense. Read more
David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Often howlingly funny, and the actors are a treat. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Lars is played by the endlessly fascinating Ryan Gosling, who perhaps has too much of a taste for damaged characters, but manages the tricky task of both playing Lars' feelings and hinting at their motivations. Read more
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Working with a doll can't be easy, but Gosling actually makes it feel emotionally real. Read more
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The script by Six Feet Under writer Nancy Oliver eschews cheap laughs for character-driven humanist comedy. Read more
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Under Mr. Gillespie's admirably directed seriousness of tone, the performers, particularly Mr. Gosling, Ms. Mortimer, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Clarkson, Ms. Gardner and Mr. Reid, never miss a beat. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The central gimmick of the film remains just that -- a gimmick -- as genuine emotion gives way to shaggy-dog shtick. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Lars and the Real Girl is an example of how even the most ridiculous premise can be used to construct a smart, touching motion picture. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains. Read more
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: One could be led to expect something arch and knowing, but the film is anything but that. It's an emotionally invested movie about loneliness and the lingering scars of early trauma. Read more
Dana Stevens, Slate: The movie is convinced that its man-loves-mannequin premise is uplifting, when actually it's just kinda gross. Read more
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Every scene that could be played for pathos uncorks great laughs, while those that could turn crass or silly are compassionate. On every level, this is a labor of love. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: A sweet little fable about how a delusional man-child is helped by the loving ministrations of his family and community, the kind of throwback flick where human nature is seen as inherently good -- a notion so quaint that it feels damn near buoyant. Read more
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Lars and the Real Girl remains suspended somewhere between perversity and pap, with only Gosling hinting at the mingling that might have been. Read more
David Fear, Time Out: Even [Gosling] cana(TM)t guide us to the pulse within this pat material, and you have to keep reminding yourself which of the title characters is the plastic one. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: Lars and the Real Girl is a tenderly observed and affecting Capra-esque fable that is well-acted and gently funny. Read more
Alissa Simon, Variety: Tenderly depicting his characters' human foibles with low-key visual humor, Gillespie never condescends or goes for an easy joke. Read more
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: 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 more