If 27-year-old Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) in "Lars and the Real Girl" had lived in another community, perhaps life would have been easier for him. As it is, the citizens of a friendly little town located in the American Midwest look upon Lars with protective tenderness.
His neighbors, his colleagues, the nice lady in the supermarket —they all worry about Lars, and understandably so. He's over-the-top shy, has a tendency to shut himself in his brother's garage (converted by Lars himself into a cozy apartment) and just not come out. Lars' brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his pregnant wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer), extend dinner invitations and encourage Lars to "get a life!" but this only serves to drive the young man further into his shell.
Then one evening Lars announces proudly that he will be bringing a girlfriend over. "She's half Brazilian, half Danish," explains Lars, and he hints at what a knockout she is. Gus and Karin are exultant, until they discover that "Bianca" — knockout that she is — is a life-size "anatomically correct" doll made entirely of silicone and plastic. Attributing Bianca's silence to a natural modesty, Lars pushes her around in a wheelchair and solicitously cuts her food into tiny pieces.