First, if you are still looking for a great movie to watch during the holidays I can't recommend the movie Millions by Danny Boyle strongly enough. It is one of the best written, most intruging holiday-related movie I have seen in years. I reviewed it more http://sbutki.newsvine.com/_news/2007/03/19/621949-dvd-reviews-millions-and-the-motorcycle-diaries"> fully here.

Second, it is no coincidence that I mention Millions before going into my review of Lars: They share certain traits, namely all things they do right.
Both are well-written, well-acted movies that take unusual plots and not only take them in unexpected directions but make the viewers smile and think, sometimes at the same time.
Both have parts which, with the wrong actors, director or writers, could easily go horribly wrong - with something cruel or mean but instead everything is done quite tastefully.

Third, it used to be a tie on who my favorite actor around is, a tie between Edward Norton (Fight Club, Primal Fear) and Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, Fracture). Both also did incredible jobs playing racists (Norton in American History X and Gosling in the Believer.
But after watching Lars Gosling has taken the title. Norton played with dark comedy with Keeping the Faith with uneven results. This movie is also funny at times but it's a kind of humor like poking fun at how quirky and weird we all really are.

Fourth, ok, so enough qualifiers, what is this movie about?
I hesitated to rent this movie for months because I could easily imagine a million ways this movie could spin off in the right direction.
What I knew, from trailers and reviews, was that Lars get a real life sex doll, Bianca, who he considered, to quote the title, "a real girl."  His family decides to go along with this delusion after a therapist working with Lars (she tells him it's so Biana can get needed treatment) suggests they do so. Gradually the whole town seems to accept Bianca as one of its own citizens and she even gets elected to the school board, goes to church with him, etc.

Cool plot but I was worried this delusion would be played for laughs (think Weekend at Bernies) or Lars would be mocked or something awful like that. Instead it was a bit the other way around, if anyone is being insulted it's society for not being more accepting of people like Lars who are working through problems of their own. I mean we are weird'>http://sbutki.newsvine.com/_news/2008/08/21/1769095-newsviners-how-are-you-weird-list-the-ways-aka-let-your-freak-flag-fly?new&mode=edit&threadId=336184&cmt=2525503">weird freaks in our own way, aren't we?

Lars is played by Gosling with just the right mix of bemusement, intelligence and yet a little off, not just including his conversations with Bianca.

Fifth and last, this movie is touching, sometimes in ways more subtle than others. Not only do the viewers, like the characters in the movie, come to like and respect Bianca but we also feel the pain and hurt that made Lars this way.

We learn that Lars is painfully shy, literally. He tells his therapist, played in an amazing performance by Patricia Clarkson:

A few of my favorite comments about this movie from selected reviewers:
James'>http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=460">James Berardinelli writes,

Lars and the Real Girl is an example of how even the most ridiculous premise can be used to construct a smart, touching motion picture. The film sounds like it was developed with Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell in mind, but the key here is that, while there are laughs to be had, Lars and the Real Girl is intended to be taken seriously. This is not a rude, crude, lewd comedy. It takes an idea that could easily be reduced to a series of sex jokes and pratfalls and develops it into something intelligent and thoughtful. But, yes, even taken seriously, it's nothing less than absurd, and the filmmakers know that. Such recognition is a key to debut director Craig Gillespie's success because he understands how to get the audience to the place where they embrace the characters and believe their situations rather than laugh at them.
.... Bianca's primary intended function is referenced only a couple of times - and not too crudely - and we are not subjected to the kind of physical amusement that characterized the dead-man-almost-walking A Weekend at Bernie's.

Roger'>http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071018/REVIEWS/710180304/1023">Roger Ebert writes:

Gus is mortified. Karin is more accepting; she believes that, for Lars, any change is progress. They arrange for Lars and Bianca to start seeing Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), a therapist, who advises them to allow Lars to live with his fantasy. Dagmar "treats" Bianca and confides in Lars. Nothing is said in so many words, but we sense that she thinks Bianca functions the way pets do with some closed-in people: The doll provides unconditional love, no criticism, no questions.

The miracle in the plot is that the people of Lars' community arrive at an unspoken agreement to treat Bianca with the same courtesy that Lars does. This is partly because they have long and sadly watched Lars closing into himself and are moved by his attempt to break free. The film, directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Nancy Oliver ("Six Feet Under"), wisely never goes for even one moment that could be interpreted as smutty or mocking. There are, to be sure, some moments of humor; you can't take a love doll everywhere without inspiring double-takes. And Gus sometimes blurts out the real-world truths we are also thinking.

There are so many ways "Lars and the Real Girl" could have gone wrong that one of the film's fascinations is how adroitly it sidesteps them. Its weapon is absolute sincerity. It is about who Lars is, and how he relates to this substitute for human friendship, and that is all it's about. It has a kind of purity to it. Yes, it's rated PG-13, and that's the correct rating, I believe. It could inspire conversations between children and their parents about masturbation, loneliness, acceptance of unusual people, empathy.

and lastly, from http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/radio/cl-et-lars12oct12,0,887414.story"> Kenneth Turan :

For Lars, who treats Bianca like an actual person and holds conversations only he can hear, is not thinking of sex. Bianca, it turns out, is the only kind of companion he can tolerate. As Dr. Dagmar, a convenient physician/psychologist (a terrific Patricia Clarkson) says, "Bianca's in town for a reason," and everyone who cares about Lars is going to have to deal with that.

It is the charming conceit of "Lars and the Real Girl" that the group includes not just Karin, Gus and Dr. Dagmar but almost everyone in this mythical hamlet, some of whom turn out to have inanimate objects of their own that they treasure. Because people genuinely like Lars, because they want the best for him, they take Bianca as seriously as he does, which leads to any number of strangely comic and surprisingly poignant situations.

And the truth is, Bianca is good for both Lars and the town. She contributes to changes in his personality, giving him the courage to be the best person he can be. And she makes the townspeople around her reconsider their own lives and begin to value what matters over what does not.