Lars and the Real Girl

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Lars and the Real Girl ★★½ 2007 (PG-13)

Lars (Gosling) is one of those sweetly awkward small-town loonies that movies are so fond of. He's a damaged soul who tries to avoid too much human contact, including that of his well-meaning brother Gus (Schneider) and sister-in-law Karin (Mortimer). Then Lars buys a customized life-size sex doll (no, he's not a perv) online and begins introducing her as his girlfriend, Bianca. Family doctor Dagmar (Clarkson) persuades everyone to go along with Lars' delusion for the time being and Bianca is quickly integrated into the community. Fortunately, Gosling et al manage to sell this story without too much ick or schmaltz. 106m/C DVD . US Ryan Gosling, Paul Schneider, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Kelli Garner, Nancy Beatty, Karen Robinson; D: Nancy Oliver; W: Gerri Gillan; C: Adam Kimmel; M: David Torn.

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