DAN IN REAL LIFE
Reviewed by Sam Hatch
Another 'Real' movie. Hot on the heels of Lars and the Real Girl (in which a tormented soul desperately tries to connect with a woman) comes Dan In Real Life, in which a tormented soul desperately tries to connect with a woman. They both also feature scenes in which the sport of bowling is used as a relationship-building experience. And they both happen to be very, very good films.
The titular Dan here is Steve Carrell's Dan Burns, a newspaper advice columnist and widower left to raise his three young girls (two teens and an eight year old) in the wake of his beloved wife's demise. He tries as best he can, but as his precociously cute youngest girl pronounces – he's a great father, but sometimes he's just no good as a dad. The opening of the film establishes their chaotic relationship, and the fact that he's attempting to thwart both a budding relationship between his 15-year-old daughter Cara and a local boy, and his eldest daughter Jane's unceasing requests to let her learn how to drive using his car.
Luckily for Dan (or so he thinks), they're escaping this mess by packing up and heading out to an annual family getaway at his parents' cabin-style house out in Rhode Island (which is also the land of speeding tickets, as he finds out in a series of funny moments spread throughout the film). The Burns' are one of those annoying clans who do everything together and force people to partake in activities whether they want to or not. It's a fun time for an extrovert, but for a moody writer mourning the loss of his wife – not so much.
To make matters worse, Dan's bedroom has already been inhabited by his brother Mitch's newest girlfriend (Mitch is ably played as a lovable man-whore by comedian Dane Cook). This lands him a spot in the family laundry room, where he has to endure the clanking and banging of an endless amount of washing all through the night. His parents (a great combination of Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney) pick up on the tension between him and his daughters, and politely insist that he head into town to clear his head.
Speaking as a guy who is routinely asked if he works at any given CD/DVD store, I appreciated the very funny setup as Dan is mistakenly believed to be a bookstore worker by Juliette Binoche's Marie. It's a great scene, as the two click instantly and follow up literary shopping with a life-changing discussion over lunch. Marie is in a new relationship, but nothing serious, so things look up as Dan returns to the family fold with a sunny disposition and exciting news. His brother Mitch is the most enthusiastic one, and assures him that it's okay to steal the woman from whomever considering she doesn't have a wedding ring.
At which point Mitch introduces Dan to his new girlfriend – Marie. D'oh! So now the guy who makes a living dispensing moral advice to strangers must put his own restraint to the test, and must endure a weekend of unyielding laundry noise and the constant companionship of someone he can never be with. It's a conundrum that's played for pathos and laughs, and thankfully the script (by Pierce Gardner as well as director Peter Hedges) plays the ensuing events just right.
It's a tricky scenario that could easily fall apart. Mitch is a super-friendly, likeable guy who you don't want to see hurt by his brother's actions. At the same time, we feel the pain experienced by Dan as he's battered by the waves of unrequited love. To make matters worse, he feels like a hypocrite considering that he's been hammering home the impossibility of the notion of 'love at first sight' to his daughter Cara (Brittany Robertson). In one great moment after he shoos away the unwelcome sight of her hometown Romeo (who traveled all the way to Rhode Island to be with her), she fires back with the accusation that he's “a murderer of love”.
Dan's personal travails would have been interesting enough with the Marie situation alone, but the deft integration of his many issues with his daughters adds an extra element to the mix, for their problems also reflect upon his own – and that of all people he seems to be the one who doesn't listen to his own advice. Of course the comedic tension is ratcheted up as much as possible – Dan is forced to endure hiding silently in a shower with a nude Marie in one comic vignette, and during a family game of football his romantic intentions towards her become suspected by his daughter Jane (Alison Pill), who accuses him of being a pervert. This buildup is great, for Dan, like the audience, wants to scream to the world that he already knows Marie and loves her – but he cannot.
There are also very humorous moments derived from ancillary material. Especially once Dan learns that his family has set him up on a blind date with one of his old schoolmates Ruthie Draper (Emily Blunt). Or as his brothers are so quick to remind him, she was better known as Ruthie ‘Pigface' Draper back in the day. This is followed by a hilarious scene at the piano as Mitch and Dan's other brother Clay (Norbert Leo Butz) belt out a funny improv ditty about good ol' Pigface.
There's also another remarkable musical moment in the film (aside from the great soundtrack by Sondre Lerche), in which Dan is forced to perform acoustic guitar accompaniment to Mitch's serenading of Marie using ‘Let My Love Open the Door' during a family ‘talent show'. It's a great segment, in which Dan is secretly pouring his heart out to a woman he is forbidden from loving, but simply can't help himself.
Carell is excellent, and portrays a character with more depth than has been evident in many of his roles to date. The script is equally formidable, for it weaves its comedy through a series of events that could have easily turned ugly, or worse yet could have left the audience wondering why they're supposed to be siding with such horribly selfish people (like the film Serendipity, wherein the main characters have no qualms about hurting the very decent people in their lives). Dan In Real Life is a success on multiple levels, and goes to show that you're never too old to act like a young fool.