“I don’t want to disappoint you, but it’s not really like the film. I just tried to follow all the rules that men’s magazines give you, like all the ways you’re supposed to dress, all the exercises you’re supposed to do, and all the things you’re supposed to say. Just follow the letter of the law. I read that book, The Game. I like to call it The Lame. Or that TV show, The Pick Up Artist. I watched that. I don’t know whether seduction can be taught or not. But these gentlemen seem to think that they have something to say, and they have devotees. What I like about the film is the philosophy. Even though Jacob’s essentially a knucklehead, at the heart of it, he’s saying: ‘Don’t use pick-up lines, don’t make lame bar banter. Just talk to them as you would talk to one of your friends. Just talk to them.’ So, I thought if there’s any wisdom in there, that probably sounds like good advice.” Ryan Gosling, on how he prepared for his ladies-man role for Crazy, Stupid Love, followed by an inappropriate dig at one of my favorite books in the history of literature — The Game.