Product Details

• Actors: Juliette Binoche, Steve Carell, John Mahoney, Bernie McInerney, Dianne Wiest
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
• DVD Release Date: March 11, 2008
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (174 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00118T632
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,085 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Dan in Real Life" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Steve Carell’s best film performance to date can be found in the fitfully engaging Dan In Real Life, where his long-suffering persona suits a character who lets his long-dormant hopes rise for a moment, only to be shot down again. Carell plays Dan Burns, a newspaper columnist who writes about family issues and relationships. As a widower with three growing girls to raise, however, the difference between Dan’s printed wisdom and his struggles with fatherhood and loneliness is often vast. He’s put to a severe test when he packs up the kids for a cabin holiday with his parents and siblings, then falls for the exotic, if elusive, Marie (Juliette Binoche) during a solo excursion to a bookstore. Stirred by a woman for the first time since his late wife, Dan is shocked to find that Marie is actually dating his brother Mitch (Dane Cook), and that she’ll be spending the vacation with him in the midst of his family. From that point, the script, co-written by director Peter Hedges (Pieces of April), pretty much becomes a parade of difficult circumstances under which both Dan and Marie have to keep their attraction to one another secret. Certain scenes work better than others, but there is an overall monotony to the movie that isn’t helped by a lack of onscreen chemistry between Binoche and Carell. Both actors are fine on their own terms, but whatever is supposed to be clicking between Marie and Dan isn’t compelling enough to make one truly care that they get together somehow. Still, this is a film with plenty of moments to like, especially when Carell gets to broaden his previous range of emotions in a movie. --Tom Keogh

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dan In Real Life, March 17, 2008

By 

Joe Carugati (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dan in Real Life (DVD)

When Steve Carell and Dane Cook were given top billing in "Dan In Real Life," I expected a great or mediocre comedy filled with laughs and humor. Congratulations again goes to the marketing that makes a film appear different than what it actually is. This is the case with "Dan In Real Life," a film that will make you laugh with the characters, but also make you bury your face into your arms at the awkward situations dealing with love.

Dan (Steve Carell) is a widower, whose job is writing for an advice column in the paper and raising his three girls. As much as he's good at helping people, Dan can't seem to connect with his daughters. He decides to take the family to his parents' lodge for the weekend and while there he meets Marie (Juliette Binoche) in town and they immediately make a connection, only to separate soon after. Coming back to the lodge, he finds out that his brother, Mitch (Dane Cook) is dating Marie and Dan has to endure the weekend, tormented with the love he has for Marie and his daughters' dislike of him.

First things first, "Dan In Real Life" is not a comedy. It does have touches of humor and slapstick throughout, but it's much more dramatic. The title character is depressed and trying to make life work for him and his family. This is the film's downfall, because at times, it doesn't know if it wants to be either a comedy or a straight drama. It lands in the middle of the spectrum and this hurts it slightly. Luckily, the acting is very good and keeps the film from being less than mediocre.

Steve Carell is one of my favorite actors (huge fan of "The Office") and he didn't let me down here. From what I saw, he was in every single scene and he truly made them better. At one point, you'll be laughing at the absurdity of his situation, when you'll be sympathizing for his character the next (the "Let My Love Open the Door" scene). Carell makes Dan extremely likeable and a character to root for. Dane Cook gets a bad rap for his acting and although some of his movies aren't great, he does fine here as Dan's brother. Cook downplays it and his love for Marie is believable. He needs more roles like this. As the love interest, Juliette Binoche is great and has good chemistry with both Carell and Cook. All the acting was fine and was the best part of the film.

What really hurt the film was Dan's daughters and the ending. Although the actresses playing them did a good job, their characters were so poorly written. Instead of being loving, they became annoying and grating. Dan is trying his best to help their situation, but they make it harder for him. Finally, the ending was too "sweet" for my taste. It seemed like it came too abruptly and the end credits montage had my eyes rolling. If they took that out, then maybe it would have fared better.

Overall, "Dan In Real Life" surprised me in that it wasn't a consistently funny comedy, but a heartfelt drama. Unfortunately, it had a hard time juggling both genres. Thankfully, good acting helped the film along and made it better than it should have been.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plan to be surprised..., November 16, 2009

By 

Andrew Ellington (I'm kind of everywhere) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dan in Real Life (DVD)

I blame it solely on that horribly cheesy poster art portraying Steve Carell's head laying on a stack of flapjacks, but I wrote off `Dan in Real Life' well before actually seeing it despite the good reviews and word of mouth from friends. It was supposed to be really good, but in my head all I saw was cheesy ridiculousness pretending to be sincere. I'm really glad that I finally gave in and watched this film this past weekend.

What a treasure.

I know this may seem like an odd comparison, and I will say off the bat that the film I'm about to compare it to does have some heavier themes, but this reminded me a lot of last years independent surprise `Rachel Getting Married'. In fact, I actually think that overall, `Dan in Real Life' is the better of the two films, or at least the most complete and comfortable of the two (when have I ever shunned away from discomfort in a cinematic offering?). I had a few issues with `Rachel's construction, but here I was completely soaking up every frame. It was funny, touching, charming, emotionally resonate and beautifully structured.

In quoting the film itself, and my review's title; "Plan to be surprised".

Steve plays Dan, an advice columnist who has lost his wife to an illness and is rearing his three young daughters with difficulty. His eldest daughter just wants to be given some freedoms, his middle daughter just wants to be allowed to express her newfound love and his youngest daughter just wants a little attention. Dan, depressed yet never to the dramatically overstated and clichéd effect that many actors would have played it, is just not capable of giving them what they need. When they make a trip to visit family, Dan meets the beautiful Marie and sparks fly, but she is involved and so they part only to uncover that they will be spending a lot of time together as Marie is dating Dan's younger brother Mitch. Trying to hide their growing affection for one another, Dan and Marie try and play cool, but it soon becomes more than either of them can handle.

The film is so much more than a glorified rom-com, as it seemed to have been marketed as. I really wish that this would have gotten the push it deserved, and that it had been campaigned as what it really is; a heartfelt and honest portrait of middle-aged growth and development. There is a sincerity about the way Dan comes to terms with his own person, trying to understand who he is as a man, as a father, as a widower. Carell is outstanding here (something I never imagined that I would say). Juliette Binoche is marvelous, as usual, giving her delicate performance a layer of spunk and wit that makes her delicious in every sense of the word. I even enjoyed Dane Cook's performance, and I find him repulsive. He was genuine and charming and natural.

I just love the piano-side sing-along (piggyface), for it was scenes like that that gave the film this lovely sense of naturalness.

Between the stellar cast and the wonderfully constructed scripting (nothing is ever too clichéd and even the romance is developed with smarts as apposed to the usual laziness) that contains some comical yet appropriate dialog ("MURDERER OF LOVE!"), `Dan in Real Life' is the real deal. I am just in such a state of pleasant and very welcomed shock right now.

Now, let's talk about fixing that ridiculous cover-art.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is how movies in the 21st century should be made....., March 20, 2008

By 

Jerry C. Lewey "J. Clint Lewey" (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dan in Real Life (DVD)

This, along with a couple other movies now (only a couple though), is the revival of good script writing and good screenplays. This movie has zero special effects, but yet is such a good, good movie. I was very impressed. Carell can play a more serious role. This is where it's at. Dane Cook too did well out of his typical comedy role. I wish everyone would give this a chance. It's great.....More movies should be made like this. It's simple and great all in at once.