Dan in Real Life

Rating PG13 Formats Blu-Ray, DVD, HD-DVD Genre comedy Starring Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, John Mahoney, Bernie McInerney, Dianne Wiest Directed by Peter Hedges Publisher Buena Vista Home Entertainment External Links Official Dan in Real Life Website

Let’s pretend that Steve Carell – one of my all-time favorite actors – is not in this film. Are we pretending? Good. Because I’m pleased to say that, even sans Carell, this comedy has enough wit and charm to stand on its own.

Carell plays Dan, a newspaper columnist, novelist, widower, and father of three daughters ranging from nine to seventeen. From the opening scene, we can see that even getting out of bed can be difficult for Dan – particularly this morning, as he will be taking his daughters to spend the weekend with his family. It’s not that he doesn’t get along with them. Quite the contrary, actually, as they have one of the most charming fictional families I’ve seen. But it seems he doesn’t feel like he has it all together anymore, not since his wife died.

One morning during the family getaway, Dan is forced by his mother to “get lost” for awhile. And so he does. He visits a bookstore in a tiny Rhode Island town. There he meets a woman, and over the course of a conversation he begins to fall in love. When he finds out she has a boyfriend, he’s almost ready to call it quits. When she shows up at his parents’ cabin – apparently she’s his brother’s new girlfriend – he’s ready to explode.

You can imagine what ensues, but even still, the scenes are funny, touching, and poignant. As Dan fights with his daughters, afraid of letting them grow up, you really feel for him and what he has lost, and what he seems to think he might lose by letting go. As he struggles with his feelings for his brother’s girlfriend, you understand what he’s going through, simply because love is happening to him and he is powerless to stop it. And as he searches for some resolution to the confusion that is his life, you begin to feel that maybe he stands a chance of pulling through.

The ensemble cast – including Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, and Dianne Wiest – do a phenomenal job of bringing their characters to life. Some of them only have a few recognizable lines, but they fit with the situation, with the family, and with the stars. Everyone flows together and creates something that few movies of this type can: the “character” of “family.” I don’t know quite how to explain it. The writer did a brilliant job of leaving a lot unexplained. This is a family that has a history, that has its inside jokes and traditions, and we’re not always made aware of it. That’s probably why it feels so seamless. We’re peeking in on a real family’s vacation. It’s charming and funny and complicated, much like our own families would probably look if we were able to remove ourselves and look at them from the outside.

This is a really spectacular film. If you didn’t treat yourself while it was still in theaters, grab the DVD. It will no doubt make your life look a whole lot less complicated, and you’ll love every minute.