Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Julianne Moore. Rated PG. Opens Friday, July 29, at the Ridge Theatre

So Ryan Gosling takes off his shirt in Crazy, Stupid, Love. What of it, really? That doesn’t a must-see movie make, does it? The mature, rational answer to that question is: “Of course not.” The suppressed-hysteria answer is: “Er, um, maybe.”

For those who care little or not about Gosling in a shirt-free zone, here’s an unusual sort of romantic comedy (by screenwriter du jour Dan Fogelman and directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa) that manages to be sweet, surprisingly dark, and frequently bent. It’s not perfect. The sweet moments practically hurt the teeth. The dark, bent moments are infinitely better.

Steve Carell plays Cal, a family guy who wears seriously unsexy running shoes on dates with his hot wife, Emily (Julianne Moore). In the first minute, she tells him she wants a divorce. Cal moves out, mooning around a singles bar inhabited by Jacob (Gosling), who seduces every woman he speaks to and gets his own jungle-music soundtrack. Jacob will help Cal find his “manhood” and teach him how to be a “tomcat in the sack”. Yes!

For a film pretty much into hetero lovin’, Carell and Gosling have beautiful chemistry. Gosling is unexpectedly deadpan funny, and together they wrangle inspired physical goofiness and oddly moving talky bits. But Gosling’s chemistry with Emma Stone, playing a coy lawyer, is also endearingly off-kilter sexy, and their shared screen time is decidedly skimpy. Not to mention, get this: there is Cal’s lovesick son, Robbie (Jonah Bobo), whose main purpose in the film seems to be to deliver a too-cute on-point message about finding one’s soul mate, Robbie’s lovesick babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), Marisa Tomei as a horny teacher, and Kevin Bacon as Emily’s other man.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. has too many people in crazy, stupid love—plus, there’s a twist that’s possibly a cheat but does make you gasp. Ultimately, the cast and their crazy, stupid, loving characters are just too impossible to resist. Did you hear that someone takes off his shirt?

Watch the trailer for Crazy, Stupid, Love.