It’s always fascinating to watch actors come into their own. We, as the audience, are able to watch an actor as his or her career advances over the years. We know when they’re hitting it big, when they’ve fallen off the radar, when they’ve moved into or away from one medium to another and whether they’re breaking character types and improving or staying still and safe.
It’s for this very reason so many get obsessed with stars’ lives — they want this connection to carry over into as many parts of their lives as possible.
With Dan In Real Life, Steve Carell has now earned my respect as an actor. The movie, focusing on Dan Burns (Carell), an advice columnist and father of three daughters, is a romantic comedy in which Dan, on a family vacation, meets and falls in love with a woman in a bookstore.
Dan opens up to her about all the things he has been feeling his entire life and, despite his awkwardness, is able to score the woman’s phone number. He returns to the family home in a romantic daze, just in time to meet his brother Mitch’s (Dane Cook) girlfriend Marie (Juliette Binoche, Chocolat), the same woman from the bookstore.
What ensues is probably the funniest movie I’ve seen this year, next to Knocked Up. It has a talent for taking those really awkward situations that family reunions tend to create, the kind that make you want to tear your hair out or change the subject repeatedly at dinner, and making them more fun than nerve-wracking. This is especially entertaining as comedies that purposely try to stress me out with wackiness tend to annoy more than entertain me.
Though Carell’s delivery is a big part of why this works, he always manages to own his character. This isn’t Steve Carell as Michael Scott, Frank, Andy or The Daily Show correspondent; this is Dan Burns, with his own unique set of flaws and quirks. If they had cast anyone else in this role it just wouldn’t have worked.
Here’s an example: this is Marie at the family dinner table speaking to Dan: “Mitch said that if I’d forgive him his past he’d forgive me mine.” Everyone else is looking proudly at Marie while Dan is stirring his food, replying, “That’s a stupid thing to say.”
And it’s quiet, and it’s awkward, and I’m in stitches. But the important thing is that Dan’s not a jerk. He doesn’t try to sabotage Marie’s relationship with his brother, but he is in love and this tends to frustrate things. What really adds depth and value to his character are his three daughters, as at any point in the movie you can look at one of them and see a facet of Dan’s character. Seeing each of his daughters come to grips with their own problems and Dan learning when to stop being a protective parent and let them grow up is the best part of the movie.
Speaking of family dynamics, you are immediately and believably immersed into the Burns family’s world, as each member of the reunion is a unique character. One of Dan’s cousins keeps thinking of euphemisms for getting laid, Poppy (Dan Mahoney, Frasier) is a lovable but grumpy old man, and Cook’s performance as Mitch is enjoyably bizarre, leading this reviewer to believe that the man can actually act outside of a comedy club.
Most important of all, the movie is sweet. For when Dan and Marie aren’t dueling to prove how not interested they are in one another, Dan is trying to be a good dad, Marie is getting pushed into awkward positions alongside him, and the family is constantly trying to help one another, play games or crack jokes. Seeing how things turn out over the course of the movie gave me the warm fuzzies, which haven’t been quite so warm as this since The Holiday and Stranger Than Fiction.
Be it with family, friends, significant others or just yourself, you owe it to your continued happiness to see this movie.