MOVIE REVIEW: 'Dan in Real Life'

From today's Oregonian....

"Dan in Real Life" has a big fat lie for a title.

The movie stars Steve Carell as Dan, a lonely, widowed advice columnist who drags his three daughters to a family reunion. While he's out getting the paper one morning, he flirts with a woman named Marie (Juliette Binoche).

Then he finds out that she's on her way to the same family reunion -- because Marie happens to be dating Dan's jock brother Mitch (Dane Cook).

And it's here that the title becomes a lie. Because when director/co-writer Peter Hedges tries to persuade us that Dan is worthier of Marie's love than Mitch, the movie's idea of "real life" becomes ridiculous.

Because Dan, in real life, is a jerk.

Seriously: In no universe (other than the precious little microcosm created by this film) would Dan be considered anything other than a self-involved, passive-aggressive, stalkerish, pathetic, traitorous emotional amateur. Imagine what it would take to make an audience prefer Dane Cook over Steve Carell, then double it.

In fact, you could divide the movie's argument into two columns:

In the "DAN DESERVES MARIE" column, you could list:

1. Dan is lonely.
2. Dan makes Marie laugh a couple of times.

And in the "DAN DOESN'T DESERVE MARIE" column?

1. Dan first gets Marie's attention by pretending to be a bookstore clerk -- by lying, basically -- and then talking at her, not to her, for an hour straight. Based on this alone, Dan deduces that he and Marie are destined for each other.
2. Dan skewers Mitch in front of Marie at the dinner table by bringing up Mitch's past girlfriends.
3. Dan stands behind Marie during an aerobics session in the front yard, stares at her derrière, and then scolds her for wiggling.
4. Dan expects everyone to be fascinated by his burgeoning career as a newspaper columnist spewing the most elementary parenting advice imaginable.
5. Dan is set up on a blind date with a sweet, sexy, generous fan of his writing (Emily Blunt) -- and then proceeds to use this fine woman to make Marie jealous.
6. Dan repeatedly turns discussions around to the very important subject of Dan and His Feelings.
7. Dan quotes a teenage boy's philosophy on love ("it's not a feeling, it's an ability") and passes it off as his own.
8. Dan can't get it together for a major job interview that would greatly enhance his ability to support his family, owing to items 1-7.

I could see people enjoying "Dan in Real Life," I guess -- the scenery is nice and the people are pretty and the songs are cute little emotion substitutes. But Dan? Buddy? It's not all about you.

D; 98 minutes; rated PG-13 for some innuendo.
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'Dan in Real Life' (The Oregonian, Oct. 26, 2007)

Comments

[Sharon]

There are a few things I agree with a few I disagree. He never said he was the bookstore clerk. He was asked a question and so he responded with suggestions. I think we gain a sense of the man and his desperate heart yearning for a mend, when he finally opens up to this random stranger (and yammers on and on and on.)

My skewering his brother, it was supposed to show what a dick he could be, but more importantly also show what a cohesive family he had in that everyone especially his mother called him out on it.

Dan didn't intentionally stand there behind Marie, his brother pushed him into that place and made him do the aerobics. If you've ever had a crush on someone, you know how hard it is to notice every little thing about them including the physicality, how they walk, how they dance, etc. Later he admits to this by his joke with the wiggling - now this could be construed as passive-aggressive I'm sure, but sometimes when you are close to someone and they get the joke, they know you're actually being honest with how you feel and making fun of yourself for your own reaction, but saying it in a funny way. I chose to believe she got the joke, that they were on the same wavelength there.

I could go on, but anyways I liked the film, because it gave me a sense of place and interesting characters. I never saw the film as expecting us to see Dan as unflawed - actually I saw it in the same vein of Lars and the Real Girl; we know he is flawed, but we're interested anyways. And at some point gain some empathy. I dunno. Maybe I can just imagine how hard it is to lose a spouse, after finally really getting to be in love. And then seeing the struggle to come out of that dark cocoon.

I also wish you had reviewed this including his relationships with his daughters and how that affects his choices in other scenes.