Lars and the Real Girl, directed by Craig Gillespie, may be one of the most wholesome films to come out of Hollywood in some time. And one of its primary characters is a sex doll. Go figure.

Ryan Gosling stars as Lars, who is good-natured, but a bit of a recluse. He lives in the garage next to the house where his brother Gus and sister-in-law Karin (Paul Schneider, Emily Mortimer) live. Karin has to resort to tackling Lars in the driveway to get him to come over for a meal – Lars likes his family, but he prefers to be alone.

All that seems to change when Lars comes to the door one day, saying he has a friend over at his house – and it’s a woman. He asks Gus and Karin if he can bring her over. They’re shocked, excited, overjoyed … but then they discover “she” is actually an “it” – a sex doll Lars calls Bianca.

Bianca may be anatomically correct, but she certainly isn’t a person. She can’t walk (she’s in a wheelchair, Lars says) and she doesn’t say much (she doesn’t speak very good English, Lars explains) but Lars doesn’t seem to realize he’s dating silicone. Their relationship is completely chaste – Bianca is very religious, Lars says. They need to stay in separate bedrooms.

Worried, Gus and Karin take Lars to the doctor under the pretense of treating Bianca’s illness. The doctor (Patricia Clarkson) explains that Lars has created a delusion that will resolve itself when he doesn’t need it anymore. She urges them to play along.

From there, the whole town gets in on the act, embracing Lars and Bianca both. Lars and the Real Girl is a decidedly Capra-esque film and it features a script with great affection for its characters.

Ryan Gosling plays the sweet, socially awkward Lars with great aplomb. It’s a role that could have easily degenerated into caricature or some type of cloying attempt at jerking tears from the audience, but Gosling doesn’t go there. The audience never feels sorry for Lars, and the script doesn’t patronize him.

Clarkson and Mortimer are excellent in their supporting roles, and Kelli Garner provides offbeat charm as Margo, the attractive coworker that catches Lars’s eye.

Lars and the Real Girl is an extremely effective dramedy. Strong performances and an intelligent script by Nancy Oliver make it a winner.

The DVD includes two featurettes:

"The Real Story of Lars and the Real Girl" is a basic making-of featurette while "A Real Leading Lady" is about Bianca the sex doll.

Only one deleted scene finds its way onto the disc and it’s utterly superfluous at less than 30 seconds.