Lars and the Real Girl

Exclusive DVD extra: "The Journey"

Ryan Gosling is shy child-man Lars, who mail-orders a fiancée and introduces the anatomically correct love doll as his living, breathing girlfriend, in the easygoing, amiable little comedy of romantic delusion and communal affection. His brother (Paul Schneider) is speechless, his worried sister-in-law (Emily Mortimer) understandably concerned, and the doting community plays along with an unflagging enthusiasm. The premise is an invitation to inevitable sight gags and director Craig Gillespie isn't one to turn down an easy laugh, but they are all good-natured, and Gosling plays Lars with such wide-eyed innocence that the seamier possibilities are put to rest. The story is slight and the cinema psychiatry creaky, but for a premise with such lurid possibilities, "Lars and the Real Girl" is as warmly innocuous as the benign irony of the title. Kelli Garner and Patricia Clarkson co-star. The DVD includes the featurettes "A Real Leading Lady" and "The Real Story of Lars and the Real Girl," and a deleted scene.