Customer Reviews

Dan in Real Life

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

All I can say is.. RUTHIE...! PIGFACE...! DRAPER...!

Just kidding. I loved this movie. Some people didn't like the fact that it is comprised of 2 or 3 genres [comedy, drama, and romance (if you count that as a genre)] but to me, all those different genres is what made it complete. That's exactly what life is like! It's not just comedy all the time, nor is it always so dramatic and sad. This is a movie that you feel you can relate to. Also, I disagree with a reviewer that labeled the movie with 2 stars. He said that the family seemed fake. I really have to disagree. Anyone who has a pretty medium to large sized family would too.

Dan's (Steve Carrell) daughter in the movie is the exact replica of my younger sister. I love the lines she is given. They make the whole audience crack up. Just listening to her crazy, passionate, teenage emotions reminds us of our kids or phases in our lives that we have gone through. It brings a smile to the face.

Anyway, I know I'm not a good reviewer, but I'm just trying to make up for the people who rated Dan in Real Life with 1 or 2 stars. Sure there were awkward, frustrating moments and those do make me cringe, but somehow this movie turned out just right.

All in all, the movie's great. When I watched it, I could tell the audience was enjoying every minute. Go see it. Just rent the thing and watch it and decide for yourself if you love it, like it, or hate it.

The idea of a parent learning important lessons from their children is not something new. It's been done before, mostly in kids movies (Finding Nemo, Chicken Little, etc.) Many an emotional climax has come from a parent apologizing to a child. Right now I'm a teenager and I'll be the first to say that this bugs me...why can't the child ever be the one that needs to learn the lesson?

This movie is like that, but with one hitch...the parent never actually does anything wrong. When he apologizes to his children in the end I'm left going "Why are you apologizing? You didn't DO anything!" Just another case of bratty kids sending their parent on a guilt trip. Sorry, but I hated it.

However, Steve Carell is great as usual, which is why I gave it two stars.

What a great movie. If you are a fan of a finely crafted movie where the dialogue pulls you in then you'll like this movie. Like The Big Chill the writing paints a picture over the course of the movie. Like a warm loving journey to a better place. If you are a single parent this movie will give you hope that love can happen again. Also, if you are a fan of big loving families you'll want to be adopted immediately into his family. Steve Carell is at his finest in this movie.

This was a sweet movie, but I felt that "real life" for Dan wasn't "real". I felt like the movie tried way too hard to let us know how fun and awesome the family is. (They have talent shows! They have sing-a-longs at the piano! They hold battle of the sexes crossword puzzle contests!) The football game had a Kennedy-esque quality to it, and the family aerobics scene felt especially contrived.
I gave it 3 stars because overall I did like it (I love Steve Carell), but it could have been better.

There was a lot of promise in this movie. I enjoyed it up till about midway through. Dan is introduced well. He's raising three daughters alone since the death of his wife. We like him right away. He's funny and we feel for him so we are ready for him to fall in love. He meets up for a week-long family reunion and the big family scenes are fun. He meets a woman in a bookstore and they sit and talk for a long time before he gets her phone number. We know there will be some sort of complications to the match and are ready for something clever to get the two of them together. But alas, most of what follows is not terribly entertaining. The movie can't decide whether it wants to be light or serious and simultaneously fails at both, which one might not have thought possible. One moment Dan is suffering over the woman he can't be with, the next he's hiding in the shower. I really did like the movie somewhat, but just felt it could have been so much better.

I watched this movie with low expectations, and to my surprise, I absolutely loved it. It's very good, nearly great, and it raises the bar on what a "Hollywood" film can be. It's got an excellent cast of not-quite-A-list actors, doesn't break any new ground, and has a tidy and fairly obvious ending...but it still works really well and feels like an indie film. I love the family in the film, and I especially love that it portrays a family's oddities and dysfunctions without the cartoonish antics of films like Little Miss Sunshine. (Don't get me wrong, I love that movie, but the wacky family theme is a bit played out at this point.) "Dan" does everything right - it's funny without being jokey, sad but not overwrought. I liked it so much that I watched it again, two days later, this time with my family. Everyone enjoyed it, as expected.

The more I watch Steve in movies, the funnier he becomes. I loved this movie for the following reasons:

1 Its genuinely funny, original and light-hearted

2 The acting is great and the characters are represented by perfectly chosen actors/actresses. They all play their respective parts amazingly well and the directors could not have picked better actors.

3 The setting and atmosphere were superb. A wooden lodge out in the country for a warm and highly desired family reunion for the world's most chilled and loving family. You almost wish you belonged to the family.

4 The music is great and I look forward to getting the soundtrack.

All of the above in combination means a great film where you can sink away from reality, really enjoy it and laugh. Excellent plot to round it all up.

Not classically a chic flick...

If you're looking for a good movie on a quiet night in with pizza... enjoy this to the maximum, ita awesome. Its also one to own.