Dan In Real Life

Director: Peter Hedges
Starring: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson, Marlene Lawston, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney, Amy Ryan, Emily Blunt
Running Time: 98 min.
Rating: PG-13

*** (out of ****)

There’s something to be said for not trying too hard. Dan in Real Life is the kind of movie that’s the toughest to make well because the temptations to go over-the-top and revel in stupidity are so great. If you don’t believe me just watch The Heartbreak Kid or Good Luck Chuck. Dan in Real Life joins Shoot ’Em Up as one of the most accurately titled films of the past year. It really is about "REAL LIFE." In fact, it’s so normal and true to life that the film’s one glaring flaw ends up being that it comes close to bordering on boring. It’s almost too intelligent for it’s own good, if that makes any sense at all. But if a romantic comedy is going to have a flaw, that’s an exceptional one to have.

There’s no slapstick or contrived situations here. It’s just a regular guy struggling with his regular family to make sense of his regular life. And that’s why it works. Well, that and the phenomenal performance of Steve Carell who elevates sitcom-level material to respectable heights and ends up really impressing in the second best starring role of his career. It was a relief spending time with likeable characters and Carell’s Dan led the charge. No matter how much you may think you like your family by the time this movie’s over you’ll want to trade them in for this one. Which is saying a lot considering Dane Cook is a member of it. But be forewarned that you’ll have to do your best to stay awake during their family stories, talent shows and Scrabble tournaments.

Carell is Dan Burns, a widowed newspaper advice columnist with three daughters who can’t stand him. A chronic overprotective father, he smothers the two eldest (Alison Pill and Brittany Robertson), one of whom is forbidden to drive while the other isn’t allowed to go anywhere near a boy. Keeping with the annual family tradition, the Burns’ drive out to Rhode Island and gather at Dan’s parents’(John Mahoney and Dianne Wiest) palatial Oceanside home with the rest of the clan.

When Dan runs out to pick up the newspaper he encounters a beautiful stranger named Marie (Juliette Binoche) at the bookstore. They strike up a conversation, immediately hit it off and end up sharing a long lunch together. However their time is eventually cut short when Marie reveals she’s involved in a new relationship and must leave to meet with her boyfriend. It isn’t until Dan returns to the house that he discovers his soul mate’s new boyfriend is actually his younger brother Mitch (Cook). Now that’s awkward. The rest of the movie consists of the threesome attempting to co-exist under the same roof while Marie and especially Dan painfully struggle to keep their feelings for each other under wraps, resulting in some amusing situations.

Writer/director Peter Hedges, whose big claim to fame is directing a pre-TomKat Katie Holmes to arguably her best performance in the sweet Thanksgiving comedy Pieces of April, really has a firm handle on this type of material. Here he’s not afraid to just let the camera roll and let us watch this family interact in a way that a real family actually would. While that doesn’t result in the most exciting film imaginable, it does lend the situation a degree of realism and lets us empathize with these people. They’re just like us, except maybe even a little nicer to be around.

When the film began I was worried its entire running length would be dedicated to treating us to yet another unbearable portrayal of a psychotically overprotective dad. I was waiting for a series of contrived catastrophes with the daughters that would cause Dan to overreact. That never happened. When the love triangle was introduced I cringed and looked at my watch attempting to count down the minutes to when the plot flew off the deep end. That didn’t happen either. It also doesn’t dwell on the corny premise of an advice columnist needing some of his own. His occupation doesn’t really figure in until the end and even there it’s minimal. Much to my surprise, there really isn’t any stupidity of note to be found in this entire screenplay. That may seem like a backhanded compliment, but when we’re talking about romantic comedies it isn’t.

Hedges lets the actors do their thing and they’re all charming, especially Carell who knows just the right notes to hit as Dan. He never comes off as neurotic or pathetic, but just basically as a good guy who’s having some problems in his life he thinks can be fixed by this woman. And he’s right. They can be. Carell is such a natural in this he seems to elevate everyone around him, including even Dane Cook. This is supposed to be where I praise Cook for just not be annoying, but he actually takes it a step further this time and delivers a fairly likeable supporting performance. He was good in Mr. Brooks but his character in that was really just a goofy hanger-on. This is the first time I’ve seen Cook play someone that could actually pass as a human being with real thoughts and feelings and he does a good job at it. Subtlety is not a quality usually associated with him but he’s so restrained here that, if anything, you may find yourself wishing (just a little bit) that the old Dane Cook would show up to annoy the hell out of us just so we have something to complain about. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get used to this new side of him. Academy Award nominee Amy Ryan has a small role as one of the sisters and she’s given basically nothing to do. That’s okay though because, outside of the main love triangle, this film is more about how the family functions as a unit. There are a lot of scenes with all of them interacting with one another and they all work. It’s tough directing scenes with so many actors in it so give Hedges credit for not only challenging himself, but getting solid performances from everybody in them.

The funniest part of this movie just might be unintentional. It’s bizarre that the family would be so taken with Marie, considering she isn’t exactly the most exciting woman in the world. She’s actually pretty boring. Then again, you’d believe a family whose idea of an exciting Saturday night consists of staying in and playing charades would be impressed by her worldly low-key charm. As I watched part of me couldn’t help but wonder how different the movie could have been had another actress been cast in that role. Let’s say a Drew Barrymore or a Kate Hudson. But I came to the conclusion I’m approaching this all wrong. Even though either of them would have undoubtedly added more excitement to the film I’m not sure they would have been the right fit for the material and may have given off the impression we were watching a worse (and stupider) movie.

That that thought would cross my mind probably doesn’t speak too highly of their film choices of late and is an issue they should probably take up with their agents. Plus, while they’re good actresses and easy on the eyes, Hudson or Barrymore wouldn’t exactly be the most believable choice to play a sophisticated world traveler. So while Binoche does add a degree of boredom to the film, she is the appropriate choice for the part and does a good job with it. This also might be the first time in the past year a lead actor is actually given an age appropriate love interest. The exciting love interest comes in the form of Emily Blunt who makes a strong impression briefly as a blind date for Dan.

There were times during the picture where I almost kind of hoped the movie would do something dumb just to liven things up a little. That’s how flawlessly normal this story and its characters are. It’s as if someone took a camcorder into a real family’s home and just started rolling. I’m willing to bet a lot of people will see pieces of their family in this. Even the home itself looks real and takes on a personality of its own. This was actually shot in Rhode Island, not a soundstage, and you can tell that’s true just watching the film. Having been to Rhode Island I knew that, but what surprised me was that the movie got the feel of the state just right. That’s especially impressive considering I wasn’t aware of the fact Rhode Island even had a "feel" when I was there myself.

It comes as almost a relief when a little bit of Hollywood screenwriting contrivance does rear its head toward the third act of the film when it’s most needed but it wasn’t anything we wouldn’t believe could actually happen with these people. That’s reflective of the entire film. One thing did bother me though: The movie poster is guilty of false advertising. I was really expecting Dan’s head to be lying on a plate of pancakes before the final credits. What a disappointment. Remind me to try that at breakfast tomorrow morning. Regardless, Dan In Real Life is a charmer of a story that goes down really easy without pushing any unnecessary buttons. More importantly, I actually liked all these people. Yes, even Dane Cook.