"Dan In Real Life" Review

Authored by Super Special Guest Poster and Honorary MamaPop Betch, Heather of No Pasa Nada

Humor me while I pretend that Steve Carell isn't married with two children... and that he is somewhat aware of my existence on this planet... and he has decided to whisk me away for an evening of witty repartee and general hilarity with so much laughter that I leave with tears in my eyes and a stitch in my side. I would try to keep up with the banter in between being completely mesmerized by his rapid raillery and genius.  It's not enough to say that Carell is hysterical -- it's that he carries himself and portrays his characters in such a way that you can feel for them even while laughing at them. Carell's very politically incorrect Michael Scott on The Office provides the perfect example: there are moments during the show when I cringe (anyone remember "Prison Mike"?) but then laugh, because even though it is laugh out loud funny and supposed to be, it also isn't overtly vulgar slapstick comedy. It's the subtleties and innuendoes that Carell is able to use so casually in his vernacular that brings me back to my dreams of someday being whisked away.

Upon first viewing the preview for Steve Carell's newest movie Dan in Real Life, I couldn't help but hum "Let My Love Open the Door" for four days straight. And then of course I couldn't help but spend a dollar and change downloading the song off of iTunes. The premise of the movie follows a feel good big family dramedy plotline in which Carell's character, Dan Burns, a successful newspaper columnist and semi-recent widower, goes to his parent's home in Rhode Island for an annual family getaway. While there he meets a woman in a bookstore and falls madly in love after only three days. Complications later arise due to the woman's relationship with one of his brothers, played by Dane Cook formerly of "I may or may not be dating Jessica Simpson" fame. The movie not only follows Dan's relationship with this woman but also with his three daughters who have been missing their mother and how Dan is trying to navigate the cruel, cruel world of adolescence in young women. Boys and new drivers and the slamming doors and screaming, "I hate you" at the top of their lungs because he had the audacity to say No. You know, normal stuff.

When Dan meets the woman, Marie, played by the always charming Juliette Binoche, she is looking for a book and she says that she isn't looking for "laugh out loud, ha ha ha big funny but something human funny" and with that the tone for the entire movie is set. This isn't a 40 Year Old Virgin getting a hairy chest waxed funny or Michael Scott speaking awkwardly about his girlfriend's breasts funny, but instead this constant lump in your throat as Dan maneuvers through the obstacles often posed by children, work, family and love simultaneously. You can't help but feel bad for the guy and squirm uncomfortably in your faux plush movie seat when Dan realizes that this woman that he has made such a random but strong connection with happens to be dating his younger brother. There are the funny moments like when Dan catches one of his daughters making out with her 'soul mate' in a coffee shop and he bangs on the glass to get her attention thus causing a scene. But it isn't meant to be obviously funny as everything is inadvertent yet heart wrenching at the same time. The film comes off as a feel good movie of the year without it being so annoyingly cheesy that you want to ram a stick up the old loving parent's ass to see if there is any life inside other than a smile and wholesome quip.

I loved Steve Carell in this movie; hell I loved this movie in general. Not for what he does, but what he doesn't do. He's not doing the usual and I find it utterly refreshing. He's being something different and honest and given that he turned my heart of tar into a large pile of mush and brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion, I have to give him major props for being able to go outside the box that he is so well known for. At the end of the film Dan is speaking about life and says, "Prepare to be surprised" and hopefully with Steve Carell stepping beyond his usual 'hardy har har' comfort zone, you will be.

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Visit Heather at www.nopasanada.org