Lars and the Real Girl is poised on the line between earnestness and farce. full review

Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains. full review

Craig Gillespie's 'Lars and the Real Girl' Is an Off-Beat, '70s-Like Charmer that Could Have Been the Third Side of a Bud Cort Trilogy full review

Under Mr. Gillespie's admirably directed seriousness of tone, the performers, particularly Mr. Gosling, Ms. Mortimer, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Clarkson, Ms. Gardner and Mr. Reid, never miss a beat. full review

...we're surprised to find that it's possible to feel a real emotional attachment to an anatomically correct girl made of quality plastic. full review

Lars and the Real Girl remains suspended somewhere between perversity and pap, with only Gosling hinting at the mingling that might have been. full review

A sweet little fable about how a delusional man-child is helped by the loving ministrations of his family and community, the kind of throwback flick where human nature is seen as inherently good -- a notion so quaint that it feels damn near buoyant. full review

Initially sounds perverted but ends up being just the opposite.

It's the script by Nancy Oliver, the very idea of the thing, that steals your heart. Kink has never felt so sweet and decent. full review

The most poignant, well-acted and weirdly funny movie you'll see this year. full review

One could be led to expect something arch and knowing, but the film is anything but that. It's an emotionally invested movie about loneliness and the lingering scars of early trauma. full review

Every scene that could be played for pathos uncorks great laughs, while those that could turn crass or silly are compassionate. On every level, this is a labor of love. full review

Sweet, moving and heartfelt aren't necessarily the first words that come to mind when describing the tender tale of a young man and his sex doll, yet all three apply to Lars and the Real Girl. full review

Often howlingly funny, and the actors are a treat. full review

The movie is convinced that its man-loves-mannequin premise is uplifting, when actually it's just kinda gross. full review

Gosling's performance is a small miracle, not only because he's so completely open as a man who's essentially shut off, but because he changes and grows so imperceptibly before our eyes. full review

It's a premise as fanciful as Jimmy Stewart's Harvey, and yet the movie has a sweetness that manages to be pixilated and plausible at the same time. full review

Both hilarious and poignant, with a Capraesque humanity that caught me completely off guard. full review