Despite a few hopeful moments, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's glib romantic comedy settles into the same smarmy stereotypes: women are mothers or whores, or some variation thereof, and that's all men are interested in. Men like Cal, played by Steve Carell. He's one step above a 40-year-old virgin, having slept with only one woman in his life, his wife Emily (Julianne Moore). When she announces that she's cheated on him and wants a divorce, Cal gets drunk at a bar, arousing the pity of babe-magnet Jacob (Ryan Gosling), who instructs him on how to "rediscover his manhood" and pick up chicks for one-night stands. As expected, Cal's lingering monogamy wins over both men, and Jacob falls in love with Hannah, played with comic aplomb by Emma Stone. A delightful montage of Gosling and Stone simply talking looks like it might turn into Blue Valentine II, but in the end the only word in the title that's accurate is "stupid."
