Crazy, Stupid, Love is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and written by Dan Fogelman. The movie features Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, John Carroll Lynch, Marisa Tomei, and Kevin Bacon in leading roles. The story follows several connected love stories, focusing on a man who recently separated from his wife and learns to become more romantic and confident in attracting women.
The film was released in theaters in the United States on July 29, 2011, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics and was a big success at the movies, making more than $145 million worldwide with a budget of $50 million. The movie was nominated for Best Comedy at the 17th Critics' Choice Awards. Ryan Gosling was also nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 69th Golden Globe Awards.
Plot
Cal Weaver is a middle-aged man who lives with his wife, Emily. After Emily tells Cal that she had an affair with her coworker, David Lindhagen, she asks for a divorce. Cal is shocked and jumps out of their moving car when Emily tries to talk about the affair. The divorce also ends Cal’s friendship with his best friend, Bernie Riley, whose wife supports Emily’s decision.
After moving into his own apartment, Cal starts going to a fancy bar, where he loudly talks about his wife cheating and his divorce. There, he meets Jacob Palmer, a young man who often dates different women. Jacob recently had his relationship with a law school graduate, Hannah, end. Jacob feels sorry for Cal and teaches him how to talk to women. After several awkward attempts, Cal successfully flirts with a woman named Kate at the bar. This experience helps Cal gain confidence, and he begins to act like Jacob.
Later, Cal and Emily meet again at their son Robbie’s parent-teacher conference. Emily notices Cal’s new confidence and better clothes. Their reunion goes well until they meet Robbie’s teacher, who is Kate. She reveals that Cal had an affair with her because he never called her after their date. During the argument, Cal accidentally admits he had sex with nine women since the divorce. Emily leaves in anger, believing Cal did this to hurt her for cheating.
Robbie tries many big efforts to win the heart of his babysitter, Jessica, who is Bernie’s daughter. Jessica eventually tells Robbie she likes someone older, though she doesn’t say it is Cal. After advice from a classmate, Jessica takes nude photos of herself and plans to give them to Cal. Emily calls Cal pretending she needs help with the pilot light, but he realizes she is trying to reach him. Cal decides to win Emily back.
Meanwhile, Hannah is upset when her boyfriend offers her a job instead of proposing. She returns to the bar, finds Jacob, and starts a relationship with him. As Jacob learns how to be in a real relationship, he and Hannah begin dating.
Jacob calls Cal for advice about being in a relationship and meeting his girlfriend’s parents. Jessica’s mother finds the nude photos, leading Bernie and Jessica to believe Cal and Jessica are having an affair. Bernie drives to Cal’s house to confront him, with Jessica following to stop him.
Cal and his children build a mini golf course in their backyard to remind Emily of their first date. During the gathering, Jacob and Hannah arrive, and Hannah is revealed to be Cal and Emily’s first daughter, born when they were teenagers. Cal is upset that Jacob is dating his daughter and forbids their relationship. Emily supports their relationship. Later, Bernie and Jessica arrive, sharing their feelings for each other. David also arrives, returning Emily’s sweater from a previous date. Cal, Jacob, David, and Bernie argue, and the police break it up.
Now, Cal’s family situation is worse than before. Jacob becomes closer to Cal’s family as his relationship with Hannah grows. Jacob tells Cal he is in love with Hannah and has changed his life. Cal is happy for Jacob but does not approve of their relationship. Jacob does not hold any grudges and praises Cal for being a good father.
At Robbie’s eighth-grade graduation, Robbie, who is the salutatorian, gives a speech about not believing in true love anymore. Cal stops him and shares his own story of meeting Emily. He tells the audience that while he doesn’t know if things will work out, he will never give up on Emily. Robbie then says he still believes in love and is happy with Jessica, earning applause.
After the ceremony, Cal gives Jacob and Hannah his blessing. Jessica gives Robbie an envelope with her nude photos for support. Robbie smiles as he watches Cal and Emily talk together.
Production
The film was originally called Untitled Marital Crisis Comedy.
Dan Fogelman began writing the screenplay in 2009 about love among a group of people. The story is based on his own life experiences and was created with Steve Carell in mind. After Fogelman sent the screenplay to his manager, Steve Carell read it within a week and agreed to join the project. In December 2009, Warner Bros. bought the rights to the then-untitled project for $2.5 million. In January 2010, the film entered pre-production. On March 16, 2010, Emma Stone was in discussions to star in the film. On April 7, 2010, Lio Tipton was in final talks to appear in the film. On April 12, Kevin Bacon joined the cast. This was the first project produced by Carell’s Carousel Productions.
Main filming took place in and around Los Angeles, California. Filming began on April 16, 2010, and lasted for 53 days. Locations included Westfield Century City mall, Ventura Boulevard, Hollywood Hills (where Jacob’s house is located), Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Portola Middle School in Tarzana, and Grant High School in Van Nuys (which represented Robbie and Jessica’s schools). Other locations included El Torito Grill at the Sherman Oaks Galleria and Equinox Fitness in Woodland Hills, which became the sports club shown in the film. Before editing, the first version of the film was three hours long.
Release
The film was originally planned to be released on April 22, 2011, but the release was delayed to July 29, 2011. It was made available on DVD and Blu-ray on November 1, 2011. DVD sales made $19.8 million, and Blu-ray sales made $5.6 million.
Reception
The movie Crazy, Stupid, Love earned $84.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $60.7 million in other countries, totaling $145 million worldwide.
It opened at number 5 on the North American box office chart with $19.1 million during its first weekend.
On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 236 critics gave positive reviews. The website’s summary states the movie is sweet and has a strong cast, even though it does not fully match its title. Metacritic, which calculates scores based on critic ratings, gave the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 40 critics, which means the reviews were mostly positive. Audiences who rated the film on CinemaScore gave it an average grade of "B+" on a scale from "A+" to "F."
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called the movie "a charming romantic comedy that shows how love can be confusing" and gave it an "A" grade. Roger Ebert gave it 3 out of 4 stars, calling it "a sweet romantic comedy about kind people." A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave it 4 out of 5 stars, saying it is "a smart and sane movie about love." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times also gave it 4 out of 5 stars, noting that it "captures the magic of different kinds of love."
Some critics were less positive. Christy Lemire of the Associated Press said the movie "did not get crazy or stupid enough to be truly enjoyable" and gave it 2 out of 4 stars. James Rocchi of MSN Movies gave it 1 out of 5 stars, calling it "a fake movie with stars but no real magic."
Several critics listed the film on their end-of-year best-of lists. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly placed it in 8th place on his list. TV Guide ranked it 9th on its "Best Movies of 2011" list. Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle included it in 10th place on his Top 20 list.
In 2025, the film was one of the movies chosen for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," where it was ranked 288th.