Who did Cal Weaver remind Jacob of in Crazy Stupid Love?

Question

In the bar Cal and Jacob meet for the first time. Cal asks Jacob why is he helping him (Cal), to which Jacob replies

Maybe you remind me of someone

Who is Jacob referring to? Is it his father?

Answer 1

I imagine that Jacob is referring to some aspect of himself. It could either be his 'past self' - i.e. Jacob before he learned to be a stylish womanizer, perhaps - or it could be the nice and sentimental part of him that still exists in his character. (We know that some part of him like that exists because he falls in love with Cal's daughter.)

I imagine it is some combination of the two.

Answer 2

Nobody realises this, but Jacob fell in love with Hannah instantly and helps Cal because he reminds Jacob of Hannah. Jacob never thinks "you remind me of Hannah," but he just feels some sort of connection to him. Hannah doesn't display any qualities of Cal but it's some sort of psychic thing.

Answer 3

If I remember right, Jacob once said that his dad was kind of too honest, too fair or something. That is why his wife (Jacob's mom) treated him not in a good way (maybe cheated too) Maybe it was the scene where Hannah and him are chatting in his bedroom.

Answer 4

This is something I too pondered. However thanks to DVR and rewind/replay you can see that Gossling's character Jacob actually answers Carrell's character Cal's question "Why are you doing this?" with "Maybe you remind me of ME" - the Audio track was edited in post production to what we all hear, "Maybe you remind me of SOMEONE" Because Gossling's facial expression and limited mouth movement when he speaks....it was an easy edit to make and unless your looking for it will probably easily miss. As for my theory for the change... I understand a fair amount of Gossling's lines were ad libbed. To that end, When he's in bed with Stone's character Emma and they're talking and Jacob asks for 'a kindness' and reveals his fathers softness and that his mother easily took advantage of him is part one element. My additional association is that when Hanna blows him off in the bar and he gives here the long stare...I think he also see's Hanna in Cal. My reason for the latter is Jacob says the same line when he 'honks' both of their noses. I realize Jacob's character is shocked when he ultimately meets Cal in the back yard 'meet the Mother & daughters - however, I still think there is some subliminal and intriguing tie between what he sees in Father Weaver and Daughter Weaver characters.

Answer 5

I too also pondered this, i even found this website looking for the answer. However, i think I've solved it. Jacob describes his parents at one point in the evening with Hannah, he says his mother was cold and vain and his father couldn't handle her. It makes for a strong argument that Jacob's parents got a divorce, and his father either died shortly after from that broken heart syndrome, or committed suicide. Realistically Jacob in this movie cant be older then early thirties. So for him to have had all this wealth and time to "try and buy happiness" his father must have died some time ago. id say at least a few years, if not more.