Dan in Real Life: DVD, Blu-ray disc review (2008)

Real life? Nah--but the emotions are real, and that's one reason the movie succeeds.

Steve Carell is Dan Burns, a newspaper columnist on the cusp of syndication who is adrift in the wake of his wife's death.

Complicating his life are his three daughters, all a handful of teens and tweens growing up faster than Dan would like, and also Marie (Juliette Binoche), the woman Dan falls in love with after they meet by chance at a bookstore. Trouble is, as Dan soon finds out, Marie is the new girlfriend of his philandering brother, Mitch (Dane Cook), who claims he never has found anyone as right for him as Marie.

And there you have it. Since Dan is the kind of guy who can't help wearing his feelings on his face even though he wants his brother to be happy, the plot complications are revealed and, well, you can see where this is going, can't you?

The film takes this situation and these characters, and places them in the hell of a large family retreat in Rhode Island. There, Dan's mother (Dianne Wiest), father (John Mahoney), siblings and their families converge for the sort of choreographed, chaotic time families tend to enjoy in the movies.

And yet "Dan in Real Life" rises above expectations. A good reason for that is the chemistry Carell shares with Binoche, which is the movie at its best. Though their pairing seems unlikely on paper, what matters is how well they make it work onscreen.

Each comes to their roles with the sense that in middle-age, life has taken away plenty from them, but might be ready to offer plenty back. It's how they get there--or, better put, whether they dare to get there--that makes for a satisfying movie that resonates through its otherwise formulaic script.

Rated PG-13. Grade: B

Read the unedited review here.

View the trailer below: