Manny The Movie Guy /

Watching a smart romantic comedy like “Crazy, Stupid, Love” in a summer filled with fighting giant robots, magical boy wizards, and avenging superheroes is like drinking a tall, cool glass of lemonade during sweltering heat.

Written by Dan Fogelman, the guy who gave us the Disney/Pixar “Cars” movies, and directed by Glen Ficarra and John Requa (“Bad Santa,” “I Love You Phillip Morris”), “Crazy, Stupid, Love” is witty, charming, and oddly uplifting. You will be soul-searching long after the movie is finished. “Crazy, Stupid, Love” is this year’s “Little Miss Sunshine.”

The film is decidedly farcical in nature and the talented cast is more than game to dish out every absurd and preposterous narrative arc to full effect. There’s an important major plot twist near the end and if you have seen the movie already please do not spoil it by your earnest revelation.

Love’s twists and turns are put under a microscope and in the middle of it all is forty-something, straight-laced Cal Weaver (Steve Carell). He’s living a perfect life. He has a good job, a nice house, and a great marriage to his high school sweetheart, Emily (the always great Julianne Moore).

But Cal’s life quickly unravels when Emily confesses she cheated on him. To make matters worse, she wants a divorce. Cal soon takes refuge at a local bar where he meets the handsome lothario, Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) who vows to get him ready to date again.

Cal, who hasn’t dated in decades, must go into full transformation to re-enter the dating game. He becomes Eliza Doolittle to Jacob’s Henry Higgins. Each lesson requires Cal to learn how to flirt with women, imbibe manly drinks, and forget The Gap.

The scenes between Gosling and Carell are inspired. Both actors have great chemistry and it’s refreshing to see Gosling playing against type. In recent years, the fantastic actor impressed us with his fractured soul characters in “Blue Valentine,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” and “Half Nelson.”

In “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” Gosling embodies a smooth player who meets his match with the equally terrific Emma Stone as Hannah, a little girl lost in search of, you guessed it, love. From romantic to familial, the many faces of love are explored in the film. Cal and Emily’s 13-year-old son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo) thinks he’s in love with his 17-year old babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton). But she wants someone else. She has a major crush on Cal.

The movie takes its time to develop the characters and the funny albeit ludicrous situations they’re in. “Crazy, Stupid, Love” still conforms to the notion of a romantic comedy but you will not be able to predict how each main character will evolve.

I also enjoyed the talented supporting cast headed by Marisa Tomei as an alcoholic teacher bruised by love. Kevin Bacon also shows up as Emily’s paramour, but my favorite is Lisa Lapira as Hannah’s acerbic co-worker. She nearly stole the show.

I am recommending “Crazy, Stupid, Love” to everyone who has fallen in and out of love. We all know how crazy and stupid love can be but in the end, we love the idea of being in love. Have you found your soul mate yet?