Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Crazy and stupid, yes, but there's little to love in Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's follow-up to their off-the-wall rom-com I Love You Phillip Morris. Overstuffed with careening characters and problematic plot lines, the unwieldy Crazy, Stupid, Love. centers on sad sack Cal (Steve Carell) who takes ladies' man lessons from comically suave Jacob (an unfailingly sexy Ryan Gosling) after his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), demands a divorce. While helping Cal recover his mojo, Jacob falls for a charming and whip-smart woman (an underused Emma Stone) who makes him want to change his bed-hopping ways. Meanwhile, Emily halfheartedly dates a besotted accountant (Kevin Bacon) as her son pines for the babysitter who has a schoolgirl crush on his father. It's little wonder that the pacing is halting, as the film struggles to juggle all these stories. Yet its biggest problem is the lackluster central love story, which falls flat because Carell and Moore share no sexual chemistry. Gosling and Stone, on the other hand, are absolutely electric, playing off each other with an easy, brazen energy that makes this film soar, if only briefly. Sadly, for all its enthusiasm, Crazy is overloaded and awkward, with an absurdly broad comedic finale that's more frustrating than funny.