Dan in Real Life
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bernie McInerney, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney, Juliette Binoche, Steve CarellBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
Published: 2008-03-01
DVD Release Date: 2008-03-11
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 05416600
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Product features:
- Steve Carell (THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, TV's THE OFFICE), Hollywood's leading funnyman, stars in the hilarious comedy that's bursting with charm -- a movie you'll watch again and again. Advice columnist Dan Burns (Carell) is an expert on relationships, but somehow struggles to succeed as a brother, a son and a single parent to three precocious daughters. Things get even more complica
Movie Reviews of Dan in Real Life
Movie Review: Super Dad has a meltdown
Summary: 5 Stars
Dan in Real Life by Richard D. Costa
How does a single father of three young daughters save his children from the corruption of modern culture? He writes a column on how to do it right, politely rebukes male suitors at the doorstep and embraces the power of the word every father worth their salt has at his disposal: `no.'
So begins the story of columnist and book author Dan Burns (Steve Carell) in Dan in Real Life. Dan walks the straight and narrow. He lives with his two teen-aged and one nine-year old daughter in New Jersey. They take a road trip to visit his parents in Rhode Island for a weekend reunion with their large extended family in what should be an uneventful family event in the otherwise uneventful life of a widowed father. But life has other designs.
Once in Rhode Island, Dan takes a ride around town after his mother nudges him to take a break from battling his hormonal teen-aged daughters. In a seaside bookstore he meets the lovely Maria (played by Juliet Binoche). Infatuated, he helps her find books and soon unloads his entire life story to her, including the loss of his wife four years earlier. He insists on seeing her again, and they part company.
When Dan returns to his parents' house where his family has gathered for the reunion, Dan's brother Mitch (Dane Cook) introduces him to his new girlfriend, the very same Maria he met in the bookstore.
The awkwardness that follows as the two try to mask their affection for each other for the sake of temperamental Mitch fuels the comedy in Dan in Real Life.
What works about this film is Carell's responsible, understated persona struggling with uncontrollable passion. He makes a complete fool of himself repeatedly, and it's a pleasure to watch. Binoche lights up the screen with her shapely figure and personality, while Dane Cook plays the perfect unintentional foil to the forces of love and destiny.
The settings in Providence, Newport and Jamestown showcase the areas hitherto often unappreciated beauty, and the simple, pleasant traditions observed by the Burns family gives the film a simple touch of heart and hominess. In-laws, children and relatives parade freely through the beautiful waterfront home during the film. They eat meals together, play football, play games, go kayaking and do aerobics. They even have a family talent show in the living room. The lead characters give the film their best, while the supporting roles (with the likes of Dianne Wiest as momma Burns and Frasier's John Mahoney playing Dan's father) round the cast out nicely.
In the end, Dan gets a lesson about his escalating bad behavior from none other than his own put upon daughters who he plays super dad to.
The plot isn't terribly complex, but a quaint family atmosphere, a forbidden romance and the meltdown of a responsible, restrained father makes for moments that are both touching and funny. The extended Burns family members are sweet, kind and intrusive. Dan's protective confrontations with his fourteen year old daughter Cara and her would be suitor are particularly entertaining.
Norwegian performer Sondre Lerche provides much of the soundtrack, which includes a remake of a famous Pete Townsend song. Lerche and singer Lillian Samdal appear at the end of the film in a melodic, jazzy duet performance of Lerche's Modern Nature. Look sharp for local Rhode Island locations (including beautiful waterfront panoramas) in this one.
Summary of Dan in Real Life
n/aSteve Carell?s best film performance to date can be found in the fitfully engaging Dan In Real Life, where his long-suffering persona suits a character who lets his long-dormant hopes rise for a moment, only to be shot down again. Carell plays Dan Burns, a newspaper columnist who writes about family issues and relationships. As a widower with three growing girls to raise, however, the difference between Dan?s printed wisdom and his struggles with fatherhood and loneliness is often vast. He?s put to a severe test when he packs up the kids for a cabin holiday with his parents and siblings, then falls for the exotic, if elusive, Marie (Juliette Binoche) during a solo excursion to a bookstore. Stirred by a woman for the first time since his late wife, Dan is shocked to find that Marie is actually dating his brother Mitch (Dane Cook), and that she?ll be spending the vacation with him in the midst of his family. From that point, the script, co-written by director Peter Hedges (Pieces of April), pretty much becomes a parade of difficult circumstances under which both Dan and Marie have to keep their attraction to one another secret. Certain scenes work better than others, but there is an overall monotony to the movie that isn?t helped by a lack of onscreen chemistry between Binoche and Carell. Both actors are fine on their own terms, but whatever is supposed to be clicking between Marie and Dan isn?t compelling enough to make one truly care that they get together somehow. Still, this is a film with plenty of moments to like, especially when Carell gets to broaden his previous range of emotions in a movie. --Tom Keogh
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