Dan in Real Life

Starring: Steve Carrell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, John Mahoney, Dianne Wiest, Alison Pill, Emily Blunt
Directed by: Peter Hedges
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
2007

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A newspaper columnist (Steve Carrell) struggles with raising his three daughters alone after his wife dies. When they travel to meet up with the rest of the family for a reunion, he meets a beautiful woman (Juliette Binoche), only to discover she is his brother's (Dane Cook) girlfriend.

Review:

Tim: I thought this movie looked like an entertaining, heartwarming movie that I would thoroughly enjoy. It looked like Steve Carrell was going to play it mostly straight, and the story seemed interesting enough. Unfortunately, the film just does not deliver on the goods. The movie moves far too slow, is too devoid of laughs, and falls into too many movie cliches. The movie is disappointing in many ways.

Steve Carrell is actually very enjoyable in the film. He has some strange power over audiences, and it is on display here. I didn't really enjoy Juliette Binoche in the film. I thought she was too ineffective, and hurt the movie. Dane Cook is also playing it straight, and despite a few good moments, he's fairly ineffective as well. The rest of the cast is slightly less than decent.

I wish there were more laughs in the film. This is a romantic dramedy, but there was too much "drama" and not enough comedy. This hurts the movie. Also, the film follows too similar a path to other films. There's just not enough new or exciting here to differentiate itself from other movies. There aren't enough memorable scenes. I like the film's focus on family and how dealing with family can be overwhelming, even to a purported "expert." However, this gets far too melodramatic and tiresome.

Dan in Real Life has its moments, but this was a film that simply needed to be better. I don't have very strong feelings about the movie, except for a few twinges of disappointment. This could have been a really good movie, but its mostly forgettable.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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