“Crazy, Stupid, Love”

Cal Weaver is a middle-aged man who is told by his wife Emily that she has cheated on him with a co-worker, David Lindhagen, and wants a divorce. After moving into his own apartment, his son Robbie and daughter Molly staying at the house with Emily, Cal goes to a bar night after night, talking loudly about his divorce, until he attracts the attention of a young man named Jacob Palmer, a womanizer who beds different women each night, although a young woman named Hannah has recently rejected his advances. Jacob takes pity on Cal and offers to teach him how to pick up women. Using Jacob's teachings, Cal seduces a woman named Kate at the bar. After the encounter, Cal manages to successfully seduce other women at the bar. He sees Emily again at their 13-year-old son Robbie's parent-teacher conference. The interaction goes well until they discover that Robbie's teacher is Kate, who reveals to Emily that she and Cal have had sex together. Cal then confesses to having sex with nine women since their separation. Emily leaves in disgust and begins actively dating David. Meanwhile, Hannah, a recent law school graduate, is expecting her boyfriend Richard to propose marriage while they celebrate her passing the bar exam, but he does not, instead, offering her a position at his law firm. Offended and hurt, Hannah returns to the bar where she originally rejected Jacob's advances and kisses Jacob passionately. The two return to Jacob's home to have sex, but end up talking to each other all night and making a connection. Jacob starts a relationship with Hannah, and he becomes distant from Cal.

Cal and his kids create a makeshift mini golf set in their backyard to remind Emily of their first date. During the gathering, Jacob and Hannah show up at the house, and Hannah is revealed to be Cal and Emily's first daughter born to them right out of high school. Cal is appalled that Jacob is dating his daughter, and forbids her from seeing him. Then David arrives on the scene to return Emily's sweater from a previous date. Jacob asks David if his name is Lindhagen and when David replies "yes," Jacob punches him in the face for the pain he caused Cal. Cal, Jacob, and David then get into a scuffle which is soon broken up by the police. 

“Crazy, Stupid, Love” is, on balance, remarkably sane and reasonably smart. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, this movie, packed with appealing stars, is a smooth blend of modern comic genres with a surprising undercurrent of dark, difficult emotion. Essentially a study in the varieties of masculine sexual confusion, it travels the circuit from bromance to a kind of Y-chromosome weepie that might be called male-odrama, with a detour into the briar patch of adolescent awkwardness.

by: Benjamín Mejía.