I’ve read #CrazyStupidLove a month ago and I am still obsessed by the post-Hannah scenes that we were robbed of.
What do you mean we could have seen Ryan work his magic on these precious moments ?
What do you mean Jacob gets terrified of falling in love and consciously let the sentiment consume him ?
WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY SWEET PRECIOUS BOY IS SO DAMAGED HE HYPERVENTILATES ??
My kingdom for Jacob Palmer.
I KNEW HE’D BE A SWEETIE THE MOMENT WE SAW HIM, I COULD SENSE IT.
Now I need to read the script, thank you for this 🙂↕️
The script is like the movie : the Jacob elements are pretty good, but the rest is… um… questionable ?
Sad to hear, but not surprising. Jacob and Hannah were the best part of that movie, for sure
Jacob is an underrated and mischaracterized Rygos character… he deserves way more love
Jacob is precious. He is extremely mischaracterised and it always breaks my heart when I see him presented as some kind man-whore with no depth… he’s a damaged little boy hiding behind a facade, and the way he is afraid about falling in love is the sweetest and most devastating thing ever. I love him so, so much.
Him remembering every girl’s name is what made me realize he’d have way more depth later on. And I was right hehe
Wish we got more about his mother, his anxiety and how he breaks himself down over and over again. It’s just so real. I think that’s why people don’t like him, he’s too real for them.
Will def be reading the script for the lost content
It’s the cereal scene that led me to realise that Jacob was a bottomless pit of pain. Alone, in the rain, eating cereals at night and filling the puzzles with a pen… there’s a lost boy, right there. Someone whose abandonment issues are overwhelming. He looked so lonely and fragile, my heart fell for him at that moment.
And then comes all the rest, and the tiny little details… his visible discomfort when Hannah objectifies him when he takes off his shirt, the way he relaxes slowly when the conversation flows on the bed, his super sparkling eyes when he tells Cal he’s a good dad, and you just figure out that he’s an absolute sweetheart masking hard.
Enjoy your reading ! It’ll only make you appreciate Ryan’s performance even more.
Ugh yes, I saw that and was like “oh this is gonna be sad, isn’t it?” and I was right 🙃 cuz it’s DARK in that house too but open… just looks cold.
The way his face scrunches up when Hannah looks at him is so funny to me. And the way he was like “you should call your dad.” to Hannah more than once because he didn’t want their relationship to fracture because of him.
Underrated sweetheart, really 🥹
He knows how it feels to live without his dad, and he genuinely considered Cal a friend, so there was no way he wouldn’t intervene. He would probably also step down if it was gonna damage Hannah’s relationships to her father on the long term. He wouldn’t make her choose.
The way he takes care of Hannah’s brother and sister says a lot about him too. He just cares about them all. And he is loyal.
He really is such an underrated cutie. I hate how his sexuality is used as an argument to dismiss him. He can both be having these consensual one night stands and be a gentle, loving and damaged character. Those aren’t mutually exclusive.
Gah, I Iove him. He’s such a beautiful character.
LEGITTTTT. STANDING OVATION FOR YOU.
Also yes, he was so sweet with her brother and sister and the first thing I thought of was how good of a father he’d be.
And meeting Cal in the bar to get it together the way Cal showed him he could. He looked like he was gonna cry, but did it anyway because he HAD to.
The bar scene is hard to watch, he is struggling so much to gain back Cal’s affection and it genuinely pains him. He definitely saw his dad in Cal and ended up projecting his father’s image over him, and it’s like losing him a second time.
Ryan does such a SPECTACULAR job at layering him. Jacob is really one of his most genuinely adorable characters.
YES. It’s all in the eyes. I could tell from the beginning he was seeing someone else in Cal, because why else would you give a fuck about this guy? It’s personal. Of course it is.
Frrr, Jacob just wanted genuine connection but throwing up a shield is much safer and familiar.
He hides behind his insanely good looks and sexuality his pathological fear of love, and his terror of being abandoned-precisely what Cal does to him.
He sees his dad in him. He tells Cal he reminds him of someone, and later on describe his late father in terms that could apply to Cal (I just finished reading Ryan’s Ides Of March scripts so I don’t have the verbatim, but he says his dad was gentle, and kind, and couldn’t handle his mother). It hurts him immensely, you can tell that Cal’s childish behaviour really pains him.
And to think he was ready to punch Lindhagen out of loyalty… this really makes my heart ache.
He was abandoned over and over again, but he still faced his fears for Hannah’s sake.
He looked at him with such longing sometimes… and then for Cal to be angry- god it’s his worst nightmare.
Yes, him punching Lindhagen spoke so much for his character. The utter loyalty. And then the “what are you grabbing?” and NOT returning any hits, just going down with the group of them.
Like it’s funny, but he’s so well written too.
He cares so very much about Cal. He learnt to really enjoy his presence and he was convinced they were friends. And because he was able to overlook Cal’s flaws, maybe… maybe Cal would overlook his. Instead, he paints them as worse than they are. Hannah is well aware of who he is, and guess what ? She is okay with it. She knows who he truly is. That Cal behaves so appallingly hurts him immensely.
The fight scene is such a credit to Jacob’s character. He doesn’t use violence unless to defend his friend, he tries to de-escalate as much as he can, and he even uses humour, a sign of emotional maturity, when things go wrong. He doesn’t argue with he’s being treated so poorly, and he doesn’t cause any kind of drama whatsoever. Even at the end, he is overjoyed at the opportunity of being given a chance… and takes Cal slapping him without flinching. He is just do anything for it to work and for Cal to love him.
He’s pure. And must be protected at all costs.
Hannah accepting him and kissing his head and tucking him into bed… so fucking sweet. She was literally such a good person. I love her.
Yes!! Jacob in that scene and afterwards on the sidewalk is perfect for showing his personality. Omggg you’re literally a genius, and articulate what I think so well.
Cal slapping him as payback but also a “check yourself in check” and Jacob is like “oh I was a dick, huh?” cuz he realized that being that way wasn’t good for himself or anyone around him.
I have spent so much time analysing and interpreting this character for writing purposes (I like to be as close as possible to the canon when I write fanfiction material, and Jacob is front and center of my current work) I am practically bonded with him forever.
Jacob is the epitome of character growth. He let changes happen to him and he agrees on letting these chances affect his behaviour. He learns about himself along the way, and he is eager to do so. Even if you are overlooking how sweet he is, his maturity is just putting him above most of the oldest adults.
Fucking so true. You’re THE Jacob expert now.
He is character growth 🙂↕️
I love him so. Damn. Much.
I immediately show teeth for two of the geese : Jacob and Sebastian. I would launch nuclear wars for these boys.
You ever do analysis posts, I would love being tagged 🙂↕️🙂↕️ they’re the sweetest
I only have the one pinned on my profile about Seb actually be the only one happy at the end of the movie, but there will be more soon. My tumblr is literally a day old 🤭🤭 I’m a huge deep dive girl. Scene analysis is my thing !
YES OMGGGGG PLEASE MORE OF US.
literally a day old is crazy, welcome to the insanity. 🙂↕️
I will be reading all of them when you get to them 🫡
My master list is pinned for all of the analysis posts I’ve made and want to make
This was such an interesting conversation to read <3
I haven’t put much thought into Jacob—due in large part to the fact that Crazy, Stupid, Love physically pains me to watch—but you explain his character so eloquently op <3
There are so many layers to him that I hadn’t peeled back simply because I didn’t think to look for them, and I think that’s fascinating in the context of his character! Jacob Palmer as a character hides who he is from the people around him for his and their entertainment. And maybe it’s a little too meta, but his act worked on me—it worked on a lot of people considering how mischaracterized he is.
idk- just thought I’d add <3
It is very easy to adhere to the oversimplification of the character, and the movie forces us to take that path. I mean, Jacob is introduced as this gorgeous, sexy, insanely confident character who barely needs to snap his fingers to attract half the women at the bar, and they are all too happy to experience a night with someone whose reputation is that of a legendary lover. Cliché, right ?
Not so fast…
His entire presence for the first half of the movie is one leaning towards a womanizer, he even says things that would approach the misogynistic tone (“The war between the sexes is over, and we won, okay ? We won the second women started doing pole dancing for exercise”) but are immediately followed by a counter argument relieving that impression (“But even though we won, they still deserve our respect”) and that’s Jacob entire undertone during the first part of the movie. He is overly sexual but never toes the consent line, these women are thrilled to sleep with him, and he never disrespects anyone, from the waitress to the store clerks. He’s exuding confidence that can be interpreted as arrogance but he never is. And he hides all of his precious cracks and flaws behind that overconfident appearance that just shatters the minute you actually stop seeing Hot Guy From The Bar™️ and start looking at Jacob Palmer.
The cereal scene immediately introduces a very tender version of him, and from that point on, Jacob’s inner layers starts to show. He is a lonely boy in a vast apartment.
When Hannah asks him to take off his shirt, Ryan’s magic works wonders. He isn’t so confident anymore, and being objectified hurts him. That’s when the wall of charm and attractiveness starts crumbling down and his lack of self confidence shows up. What he shows to the world conceals entire parts of him that are so fragile and delicate he can’t afford to expose them. This is a little boy who lost his father, and grew up with a mother that most definitely projected a vain image over her child. For him to describe her as cold, he probably suffered a lot.
You figure out very quickly that love paralyses him because he saw his gentle dad being mistreated by his icy mom, and that he can’t, for any reason, follow the same path. So when Hannah, quirky, smart, funny Hannah comes around, he is immediately in a position of vulnerability. The cocktail thing doesn’t work. Dirty dancing becomes a shtick borderline ridiculous. And when he resorts to the one thing that he knows he can do to quiet the noise in his mind-sex-she even detects his obsessive compulsive tendencies and she disarms how shameful he feels about it : they laugh about the countless stuff he bought online, that he never uses, and for the first time, he can even put words into how unhappy he is.
And because he feels safe and comfortable with her, he can unmask. He talks about the things that hurt so much. And Hannah takes them seriously and doesn’t dismiss his pain, to the point of him feeling so serene he can fall asleep without having fed his ego (or lack thereof) with a satisfied partner. He probably slept peacefully for the first time in a long time, feeling seen for something else than his body.
From that point on, the mask is off and never comes back. Falling in love is scary but he already cares so much about Hannah it’s not really his choice anymore. She reveals a sillier, lighter version of himself that you can also see by the clothes he now wears : sharp suits are out, relaxed polos are in. He’s in love, and she is everything and he’s so scared to meet her mom because what if she projects over him what his mom did ?
I don’t think we can quite overstate how utterly devastating it is for him to be treated the way Cal treats him when he figures out he’s Hannah’s boyfriend. Jacob’s loyalty is unwavering, he takes hits for Cal, but he doesn’t care. Cal hurt him immensely. The bar scene really underlines how genuinely painful it is that he won’t give him half a second chance, and yet, Jacob still compliments him with tears in his goddamn eyes. And he wants Hannah to call him. This is knight in shining armor levels of selflessness.
The ending shows that he cares about everyone. He values Robby’s graduation so much the sharp suit is back-he’s overdressed ! But he loves these kids. And he wants to show it. It matters to him. And he takes Cal’s abuse stoically. Because it matters to Hannah. And to Cal. His own feelings have no value as long as they are happy. He can take it. It’s probably not the first time he does.
Jacob is probably the most gentle, and one of the sweetest of all of Ryan’s characters but you need to spend a minute with him to actually understand. And because he is so openly sexual, people dismisses him and mischaracterise him so severely.
He can be the softest sweetheart ever AND be openly sexual. These two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
