Dan In Real Life Review

You know, I don’t even care about the fact that I’m probably wildly overrating it in my mind. I loved this movie.

Steve Carell stars as Dan Burns, a family advice column writer and widowed father of three daughters. Dan and his girls head to an impossibly roomy and comfortably luxurious company for a get-together with his family, including younger brother Mitch (Dane Cook), who’s bringing his new girlfriend.

While in town, he meets an alluring woman (I can tell she’s alluring by her appealingly dark look and French accent) who he clicks with right away. I don’t think it’s giving away too much to say that ***SPOILER ALERT*** she turns out to be Mitch’s girlfriend. ***END OF SPOILER ALERT***

And that’s pretty much the whole movie. Storyline wise at least. The rest of the time, we’re basically watching Dan lose his mind while (mostly unsuccessfully) hiding it from the rest of his family.

Carell is outstanding and Oscar worthy as Dan, dialing down the Michael Scott silliness from “The Office” just enough and amping up his Andy Stitzer sweetness from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” to the appropriate level. Still, his performance is so much more than a simple mash up of those two films. It’s also sad. But since the character is played by Carell, and he inherently has a sweetness about him, we root for him (or at least I do) to get the girl (or at least not continue to be humiliated) by the end.

Also, with the writer’s strike in full swing, this is the only way I’m going to get my fix-o-Carell. And don’t even think about suggesting I watch “Evan Almighty” on DVD.

Juliette Binoche is solid as Anne Marie (or Annie or Marie depending on which brother you ask), though I’d say 60 percent of her effectiveness is due to her just having that thinking man’s appeal from being Juliette Binoche, 20 percent is due to the writing for her character (they even allude to the fact that she has NO flaws in the movie) and 20 percent is anything Binoche actually did.

Dane Cook was great. Yes, THAT Dane Cook! His character is someone who’s a perfectly nice and likable guy, maybe a bit immature, maybe a bit of a lout, but overall a good guy. He and Carell had fantastic chemistry as brothers, and the scene where they sing “Open the Door to Your Heart” was simultaneously adorable and heartbreaking. Or as Erica put it, they’re the best brothers ever.

In fact, I enjoyed pretty much every performance, including John Mahoney and Dianne Wiest as Dan’s well-meaning, but gently-prying parents. Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson and Marlene Lawtson were also terrific as Dan’s most sensible, most frightening(ly realistic?), and most adorable daughter.

This movie comes from director Peter Hedges, who previously directed the extremely underrated “Pieces of April.” That movie was edgier than “Dan”, but the latter movie’s sweetness works for the source material.

Even though some of the hijinks played out in a “Meet the Parents”-esque fashion, Hedges never let the movie devolve into slapstick. I also like the little details he sprinkled in throughout, like the group workout for the entire family (looks like fun) and the crossword puzzle solving challenge pitting the men against the woman (definitely have to do that some time). On the other hand, a subplot with Dan running into the same policeman kinda fell flat.

Like I said, I know this movie will be called corny by some, but I don’t care. I thought (as I did with “Pieces of April”) that this was a beautiful little movie and one of my favorites this year.

Dan In Real Life…A