Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie, 2007)

Ryan Gosling plays a socially maladroit man who lives alone with only his brother and sister-in-law as visitors when they make attempts to draw him out of his shell. Then, one day, things finally seem to be looking up when he announces that he has met someone on the Internet. It proves a false dawn, though, when this is revealed to be an anatomically accurate bespoke doll.
Gosling is a fine actor, capable of investing his maladjusted characters with genuine pathos. Still, here he has an uphill struggle: it never ceases to exasperate how U.S. audiences and filmmakers in 'gentle' leftfield dramas such as this are so sold on the proposition that a bag of personal eccentricities and their improbable indulgence amount to a meaningful statement on life's rich tapestry. The fact that the town colludes in Lars's delusion is not evidence of tolerance, but just pure wish-fulfilment on the part of the director, on a par with the protagonist's dream relationship.
Still, it's hard to get angry about a film that at least has its heart in the right place, and some of the turns by which Lars maintains the integrity of his mental concoction are neatly crafted.

5/10