He gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4. This paragraph kind of summarizes the basic plot, though it's much more this and in the end, not really even remotely as bizarre as this sounds too.
One day a co-worker at the office, surfing Internet porn, shows Lars a life-size vinyl love doll that can be order customized to specifications. A few weeks later, a packing crate is delivered to Lars, and soon his brother and sister-in-law are introduced to the doll. She is, they learn, named Bianca. She is a paraplegic missionary, of Brazilian and Danish blood, and Lars takes her everywhere in a wheelchair. He has an explanation for everything, including why she doesn't talk or eat.The real plot is summarized in the next paragraph I'll quote - the story about Bianca is more a background to what is the real story. The real story is that Lars lives in a community who love him. They love him in such a radical way that they'll not only pretend Bianca is real, but they'll love Bianca as much as Lars does. There are scenes that made me cry and made me laugh til my side hurt. In one, Lars and Bianca get into their first argument (Bianca, of course, doesn't say anything we can hear, but Lars gets a mouthful it sounds like). Bianca had been out around town with the girls - getting her hair done, going to the library to read books to the kids (she is literally propped up, when Lars is not even there, in her wheelchair, holding a book open, and a recording reads the book while the kids hang on its every word). Lars thought that he and Bianca had a date to play scrabble that evening, but Lars's sister-in-law informs him that in fact Bianca had other plans, and that the schedule was posted on the fridge. This sends Lars into a conniption, after which he chews Bianca out, saying he doesn't feel like he needs to consult his girlfriend's schedule to play scrabble, and that he cannot believe that with 10 girls around him all day, not one of them could've made a phone call to Lars to tell him what was going on (!). It's all played completely straight, and actually feels like a real fight. Not a bizarre fight, either. The hilarious part is when the older women takes Bianca to her car, and then gives Lars a piece of her mind, telling Lars he shouldn't talk to Bianca that way, and that Bianca has her own life to lead, and that it's not right that she should be waiting for him while he works all day. To which, of course, Lars is completely speechless and realizing that he really can't say much about that, but yet still obviously mad. It's the sweetest thing to watch - sweet primarily, like I'm saying, because of how tender, how genuinely caring, this community is for Lars. They love Lars so much that they'll do things with Bianca. It's quite amazing, really. If ever you have wondered, "How do I love someone? How do I love this person who is so unloveable?" I recommend you watch this movie and then rewatch it, and then watch it again. This is how you love someone, anyone, everyone. Of these people, Ebert writes:
"The miracle in the plot is that the people of Lars' community arrive at an unspoken agreement to treat Bianca with the same courtesy that Lars does. This is partly because they have long and sadly watched Lars closing into himself and are moved by his attempt to break free. The film, directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Nancy Oliver ("Six Feet Under"), wisely never goes for even one moment that could be interpreted as smutty or mocking. There are, to be sure, some moments of humor; you can't take a love doll everywhere without inspiring double-takes. And Gus sometimes blurts out the real-world truths we are also thinking."
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