Actor Spotlight: Ryan Gosling
The Gray Man is out on Netflix today, so we look at some of Gosling's best performances to date
Ryan Gosling is the Internet’s boyfriend, everyone’s favorite Canadian, and a former mouseketeer in the 90s, among many other things. The 41-year-old actor has almost always had easy charisma and impeccable taste. Gosling routinely chooses to work with the best directors and most interesting material. He’s one of our most versatile movie stars, constantly stretching himself and shifting our perception of his persona.
For the first time since 2018’s outstanding First Man, Gosling is in a new movie. The Gray Man is out on Netflix today, co-starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. It’s Netflix’s most expensive film to date with a production budget of $200 million. So it’s a good time to examine Gosling’s career by recommending a couple of his best performances. Read, share, and subscribe before firing up The Gray Man this weekend!
Drew recommends…
Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl walks a fine line with empathy and grace. You might cringe or expect a much different movie when you see this is a story about an awkward guy that falls in love with an anatomically correct sex doll. Thanks to Ryan Gosling’s humane central performance – and the sensitive approach of the filmmakers – this indie dramedy (perhaps miraculously) strikes the right tone while thoughtfully exploring loneliness and community.
Lars Lindstrom is a mostly isolated young man living in Wisconsin next to his older brother and sister-in-law, who attempt to socially coax him out of his shell. When Lars introduces them to his new girlfriend Bianca, a lifelike doll from an adult site, they try to get him mental health assistance, until a psychologist tells them it’s better to play along with Lars’ fantasy. What follows is a film of discomfort, humor, and heart, all led by Gosling’s take on a tricky character.
This has to be one of the most underrated Gosling performances. It wasn’t Oscar-nominated like La La Land, and it hasn’t become a cultural touchstone like The Notebook or Drive, but Lars and the Real Girl is an ideal example of Gosling’s ability to play an odd or off-center character totally straight. Often he adopts that famous Gosling smirk when his character is in a funny situation (see Remember the Titans or Crazy, Stupid, Love), but he seriously commits to Lars’ humanity in a way that still recognizes the inherent ridiculousness of the circumstances. This is an often funny movie that never makes Lars a joke.
Bolstered by Gosling’s work, there’s a surprising wholesomeness at the heart of Lars and the Real Girl. Lars’ relationship with Bianca is romantic but chaste (she sleeps in a different bedroom), and the townspeople, by and large, accept Lars and his doll as part of the community. These might not be the most realistic aspects of the film (and occasionally toe the line of too-neat indie movie whimsy), but it allows the story to focus on how a community’s love and acceptance can draw an isolated person back to reality. As usual with Gosling, it’s his considerable talent and intelligent approach that make it all work.
Streaming on HBO
Recently, I went on The Embassy’s podcast, On Culture, to discuss a similar real-life scenario and we touched on Lars and the Real Girl in the conversation. Click here to listen, and I’d definitely recommend subscribing as well.
Billy recommends…
The Big Short
Ryan Gosling proves himself as a great comedic actor in unique turns from time to time. The Nice Guys is his most prolific comedic performance, but it’s the show-stealing performance in The Big Short that I revisit in clips on YouTube often. The Big Short is a pop satire that recounts what led to the 2008 housing crisis. Bringing in big names to play the starring roles and using A-list celebrities to explain the boring finance terminology that is necessary to tell this story.
This is a movie that doesn’t really have a lead. Four major characters shift the lens often and the occasional merging storyline brings the story together impeccably well. Director Adam McKay is clearly an angry person to the core. While I am rooting for these characters because they are structured as the protagonists, these characters are more villains than misunderstood anti-heroes. They see the injustice and predict when the consequences of greed will culminate, but only plan to profit from the looming disaster. The character that personifies the least amount of remorse is Gosling’s character, but his narcissism is so absurd and horrible that it makes me belly laugh each rewatch.
Gosling plays Jared Vennett and he is introduced to the story by leading a meeting with Steve Carell’s character Mark Baum and his cronies. Jared is bringing up the bubble that is forming and a way for these people to profit from the impending doom. Disbelief and confusion fill the room, but Jared’s refined and pinpoint presentation with his assistant Chris and math specialist Yang snowballs the confidence in the room. Gosling’s work going back and forth between yelling at Chris, lying about Yang’s credibility, and presenting the looming crisis is brilliant work. He works through McKay’s script efficiently (just what every film lover loves, efficiency) and captivates the audience through this exposition drop.
Gosling is as consistent of a sure thing we have in the industry right now. No real misses in his performances and if you can get him to be in an ensemble to liven up your movie you better take that opportunity. This weekend with The Gray Man it doesn’t seem that we will be getting the charismatic Gosling. But a more brooding mysterious presence that he is also masterful at. If you need to get the charismatic Gosling back in your life I suggest throwing on The Big Short to scratch that itch. Or at least watch this scene from the movie.
Available to rent digitally on demand
From the DYLA Archive
Links
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