One would not think a deceptively deep, witty and charming movie could be made about some lonely dude who orders a sex doll on the Internet, but that is exactly what director Craig Gillespie delivers with “Lars and the Real Girl.”

The story follows Lars, ably played by Oscar-nominated Ryan Gosling, an introverted but good-natured young man living in a small northern town.

The closest he gets to having a social life is going to church and exchanging brief pleasantries with his coworkers.

That all changes when he orders a sex doll on the Internet and creates a delusion wherein she is alive.

Naturally, this worries Lars’ brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer), but the family psychologist Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) encourages them to go along with the make believe in order to help Lars deal with his psychological problems.

While the idea of pretending the doll, Bianca. is real, the town eventually warms to the idea.

After a few awkward weeks, the members of the town get excited about Bianca and begin taking her places and treating her as if she really were real.

This distresses Lars as he feels like he is losing his girlfriend. He does not realize that it is actually part of a plan to help Lars overcome his delusion.

Craig Gillespie is a relative newcomer to filmmaking, having directed only one other film before this one. His success with “Lars and the Real Girl” is made all the more impressive when one considers that his singular other film was “Mr. Woodcock,” the disappointing and incoherent mess of genital-related humor released earlier this year.

Cleary, he has come a long way in the past two months, it seems.

Ryan Gosling, long undersold in one-dimensional roles in movies like The Notebook, gets a chance to stretch his legs with this role, and he really delivers.

It is hard enough to make emotional connections between two people believable on screen, but creating it with an inanimate object is a whole other feat, and Gosling pulls it off beyond a reasonable doubt.

The sheer emotional range of the movie is astounding in and of itself. The mood shifts seamlessly from comedic to touching to tragic and back again with none of the awkward transitions that consistently plague cross-genre movies such as this one.

Moviegoers should be aware of the extremely unconventional nature of this film. It has comedic moments, but it is not a comedy. It has dramatic sequences, but it is not a drama. “Lars and the Real Girl” is hard to classify or label.

The content of conflict might leave some moviegoers disappointed as well.

The movie is subtle, very subtle, and it ends in such a way that it leaves one wondering just what the conclusion was exactly. Nonetheless, you feel fulfilled.

If you are looking for a two-hour mental vacation and are not in the mood to deal with deep psychological issues in your movie-going experience, then this is a film you may want to avoid.

All in all, this is definitely a movie you will be hearing a lot about as we move closer to the Oscars.

Gosling’s performance is already drawing buzz about a possible nomination, and it wouldn’t be wholly unthinkable for the movie or the director to get a nod as well.

Perhaps Gosling will finally walk away with an award after his nod for Half Nelson left him empty-handed.

“Lars and the Real Girl” is an excellent piece of filmmaking.

You will laugh, you will feel awkward, and you might even cry.

Either way, “Lars and the Real Girl” is a well-rounded, feel-good movie that is sure to please moviegoers of all kinds.