Movie Review: Dan in Real Life

Starring:
Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson, John Mahoney, Marlene Lawstone

Director:
Peter Hedges (Pieces of April)

MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for some innuendo.

Release Date:
October 2007

Synopsis:
Advice columnist and widowed father of three Dan Burns has met someone new. Marie is beautiful, she's smart, and she just so happens to be the girlfriend of Dan's brother, Mitch. With a publicly recognized moral compass, Dan finds himself torn between reaching for happiness and keeping the peace in his family.

My Two Cents:
I’m no fan of romantic comedies, but I’m no hater either. I’m used to seeing Steve Carell be a jerk in Bruce Almighty, a dorky virgin in The 40 Year Old Virgin, and a suicidal gay man in Little Miss Sunshine, so it was interesting to see him play a normal human being, for once.

Carell plays Dan Burns, a widow and father of three girls aged 9, 14 and 17. He has a column in a local newspaper called Dan in Real Life, where he gives advice on love and relationships. Too bad he doesn’t really apply them to himself. He’s having a rough time raising his daughters by himself, and with two of them being teenagers you can imagine his sad situation. He’s way overprotective of them, to the point of being ridiculous.

During a yearly family get-together at his parents’ house, Dan meets a woman named Marie (Juliette Binoche) in a bookstore and immediately connects with her. They talk for a long time and become instant friends. There’s definitely a mutual attraction, but just as Marie is about to leave she reveals she recently started a relationship with someone, so that’s that. Poor Dan still wants to be her friend so they share phone numbers and bid each other good bye. Later, back at his parents’ house, Dan’s younger brother Mitch (Dane Cook) introduces his new girlfriend to the whole family. The girlfriend is, to Dan’s horror, Marie from the bookstore. She’s so nice and cool that everyone falls in love with her, even Dan’s three girls. Dan fights really hard with himself not to interfere with his brother’s relationship with his new girlfriend, but it can’t be helped. They’re both drawn to each other and end up in awkward and uncomfortable situations.



This isn’t a Farrelly brothers comedy, so people expecting Carell to be a complete ass will be disappointed. This movie deals with very real human emotions in a way we can all relate to, without turning things into a circus. Carell and Binoche share a great chemistry rarely seen in comedies of this type. Neither of them are super good-looking or have a big age difference, and that’s perfectly fine.

This could be considered a relative small movie, but roles like this are what Carell needs to prove he can be a leading man without being an ass. I had a good time, laughed a little, and even got a bit teary-eyed, but only a little. I’m a man’s man, you know…

Score: