trailer....
Synopsis
Dan Burns (Steve Carell), a successful newspaper self-help columnist and single father of three girls, falls in love with a woman, later turning out to be his brother's girlfriend.
My Take
I think of Dan in Real Life as an experiment. Steve Carell a bouncy, lovable comedian known for his off-color role as Michael Scott from The Office, decides a change of pace and settle for a more down-tempo film. Much more down tempo. Much like Will Ferrell's venture to the serious side in last Fall's Stranger Than Fiction, we find Carell switching to that same ploy. Dan in Real Life is a risk, a bigger risk than I think anyone will admit. You take a successful comedian, who stars in movies, and a television show weekly (in season), and you put him in a more melodramatic setting, and change his specialty genre from "comedy" to "romance/drama"...and can't expect a major setback here? Thankfully, for Carell and the whole Dan in Real Life project they pull it off with ease, and instead set the bar higher for the capabilities of comedians like Carell who continues to climb the ladder, in my opinion.
Dan in Real Life is a funny story amongst blatant tragedy. We see Dan Burns living it up as a newspaper columnist on one hand..but as the movie evolves we learn that his wife passed away years before, and he appears to be losing his grip on his three daughters, two of which are teenagers and seem to be mentally drifting apart from him. A trip to his parents house for an annual family get-together, appears as a Mecca for what the struggling Burn's family needs. However, things take an interesting turn when Dan meets a woman named Marie in a local bookstore, only a day after arriving at his parent's house in Rhode Island. Instantly whisked away mentally, Dan prepares to foster perhaps much more than a friendship – all based on one conversation with Marie. However, Dan comes home to find out that his brother Mitch (Dane Cook) has a girlfriend coming to visit – who turns out to be Marie, the same woman from the bookstore. Dan and Marie try to play cool, hiding their secret while slowly growing more and more despondent and irritable until the family attempts to intervene.
While not technically in the "family film" department, it wont hurt to be shown for a family night. Values and morales are brought to the table without being propagated or showy. The movie also gets away with almost 0 flags. Minimal language, minimal nudity and sex, and no violence (save one punch), leave it to be fairly clean. The more adult topics (an exercise scene which features Marie doing the salsa in front of a envious Dan, and Dan's brother talking about when the last time Dan "unpopped his cork was", much to his family's dismay) are given with more subtle tones, so the obvious isn't drug out. It goes in step with the movies tempo, which is mostly slow (but not boring) and soft-spoken, and an almost folksy feel to it.
In the end viewers will learn about the truth behind love, whether seen from a 40-year old man's point of view or a 14 year old girl. Love seems to be on the same plain for everyone, including people within a family. Putting family first, always lets you accomplish your goals at a steady pace and leaves time to cherish the ones you love. This wrapped up in a charming love story (really charming) presents a beautiful and delightful package that is Dan in Real Life. Without a doubt, I highly recommend it. You will lose out if you miss this film.
Until the next flick,
Zachary Anderson
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