On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 25/46 |
Les Winan |
Predictable it may be, but there's a heart and charm that make it something more. Maybe it's just the excellent Steve Carell. |
| 127/214 |
Max Braden |
Too slow and subdued. I didn't sense any chemistry. |
The Facts of Life's theme song made the argument that we take the good, we take the bad, we take the rest and then we have, well, you know. Such is the case with Dan in Real Life, a rare romantic comedy from Disney. The cast features such brilliant talents as Steve Carell (The 40 Year-Old Virgin), Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), Juliette Binoche (Chocolat), Dianne Wiest (Parenthood), and John Mahoney (Frasier/Say Anything). They would be the good. It also stars Dane Cook. He would be the bad.
Everything else aka the rest we have is a story about Dan (natch) Burns, a single father who writes an advice column for struggling parents. As a parent of three girls, he faces the awkward struggles fathers experience as their daughters achieve sexual maturation. Meanwhile, as a widower, he's been alone for far too long. When the perfect woman (Binoche) walks into his life, Dan starts to feel emotions that had been literally buried away. Of course, since this is a romantic comedy, there is a catch. In this instance, it's that his dream girl is seeing someone else…who happens to be his brother. Yes, you are right to cringe at that. The knowledge that it's Cook playing the brother makes the situation all the worse. Any woman who picks him over Steve Carell should be constitutionally dictated not to breed. But I digress.
Dan in Real Life is being positioned as a combination of Steve Carell's two most popular works, The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Little Miss Sunshine. Given the recent misstep with Evan Almighty, the star of The Office needs to re-establish himself as a bankable lead actor. This title is a potential awards contender and might find a balance as a solid box office performer as well. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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