It's a classic case of boy meets girl, girl falls out of love, man tries to win girl back.
Steve Carrel has been married to Julianne Moore when you discover she has cheated on him and wants a divorce. He moves out into an apt while Julianne Moore gets to keep the house with their teenage son and elementary school daughter. He then goes to meet a friend at a bar to only discover that the friend has taken "sides" with the wife and now has no wife, no house, barely see's his kids AND now has no friends. Drowning away his sorrows at the bar a handsome womanizing gentleman (Ryan Gossling) takes Steve under his wing and teaches him how to be a new man. Of course this involves a frothy montage of a makeover. After finding his manhood again, sleeping with multiple women you see that he's clearly not happy. You also are slowly discovering that Ryan Gossling isn't all that happy with his detached womanizing either.
This is where Emma Stone comes into play. She's been randomly thrown in throughout the movie but you cant quite figure out why, her and Gossling met at the very beginning then she went off into her own little side story. After Stone gets blown off by boyfriend (Josh Grobin) who she thought was going to propose she happens to go to the exact bar that Gossling is at and asks him to take her home. Instead of having meaningless sex they spend the night talking and falling in love. You then find out that Gossling has taken the leap to being in a full fledged relationship and is on his way to meet Emma Stones mother.
Steve Carrel has also decided to do a blowout last effort to win his wife back by building and setting up a mini golf course in the backyard of their house. This is where its revealed that Emma Stone and Ryan Gossling were coming to meet Julianne Moore-the mother-apparently their oldest child and cause for young marraige that had been purposely omitted until the perfect moment. Steve Carrel FLIPS when he finds out that the man who taught him how to pick up chicks is the one being brought home with his daughter when conveniently David Lindhogen ,the man Julianne Moore cheated on Carrel with.(Kevin Bacon) shows up and all hell breaks loose.
Theres also been a side story of the baby sitter being in love with Carrel the whole time-the daughter of the friend who "broke up with him" in the beginning and some nudey pictures come into play and friend is also thrown into the all out brawl. The cops arrive, everyone gets broken up and all feelings are left a little raw.
It ends with Stone and Gossling happily together, and Carrel saying he will never give up trying to get Moore back. It's not a happy ending per-say but a realistic one.
Loved this movie and encourage all to see.
