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 Dan in Real Life (2007)
Rated: PG-13 for some innuendo.
Runtime: 84 mins.
Director: Peter Hedges
Writer: Pierce Gardner and Peter Hedges
Cast: Steve Carell; Juliette Binoche; Dane Cook; Alison Pill
Tagline: Something's happening to Dan. It's confusing. It's awkward. It's family.
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Memorable Quote: "Love is not a feeling, Mr. Burns. It's an ability."
Release Date: October 26, 2007
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures
Official Site: daninreallife.movies.go.com/
View the Trailer: www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/daninreallife/
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| Reel commentary: ... Dan has bubbling chemistry between its co-stars. Thanks to Binoche's penchant for drama -- and Carell's for comedy ... full review |
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By Louis Boram
Everyone can relate to frivolous songs like Y.M.C.A. (Village People) and Who Let the Dogs Out (woof, woof) (Baha Men) that make you want to conceal toe-tapping guilty pleasure or participate in communal -- and cathartic -- anguish. Like these anthems, Dan In Real Life will bring you private pleasure or public pain. It all depends on how well the arranged plot strings play for you.
Dan Burns (Steve Carell, Evan Almighty) writes a family-oriented newspaper advice column. He's a 40-something widower and earnest single father of three school age daughters. While espousing professional life-advice, Dan's daughters constantly remind him, in that impudently know-it-all way that only teenagers can, how embarrassingly out of touch he really is.
Along with his kids Dan travels to a family gathering at his parent's cushy Rhode Island cabin. While on an errand to a local bookstore he meets Marie (Juliette Binoche, Breaking and Entering). After romantically sparked conversation, an invigorated Dan rejoins his family, sharing, I've met someone. Good fortune promptly turns nightmarish when Dan discovers his brother Mitch's (Dane Cook, Mr. Brooks) girlfriend is -- you guessed it -- bookstore Marie. The long weekend suddenly becomes a secret contest for Dan and Marie to fight forbidden mutual attraction.
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Steve Carell - Kids
All images copyright © 2007 Touchstone Pictures
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What's not to love about a lonely widower who cultivates familial bonds through puzzle-solving competitions, touch football, charades, group singing around the piano (admittedly amusing)... and even aerobics? These relatives engage in relentless hyped-up quality time activities. This lovey-dovey family would be wise to heed the useful adage: Life is best lived in moderation.
In its favor, Dan has bubbling chemistry between its co-stars. Thanks to Binoche's penchant for drama -- and Carell's for comedy -- the amorous pair establish dramedy weightiness with their insinuatingly nimble verbal-foreplay. When Dan and Marie steal private time together, you re more hopeful about their chances than you should be -- thanks in some small part to your own respite from the endless array of organized household activities.
Auds enjoyment in the sprightly romantic-comedy occurring between Binoche and Carell will no doubt be influenced by the degree to which you take delight in the Burns family's amplified homemade high jinks. Some may feel the sweltering warmth of Dan's omnipresent family as stifling to any charming allure that emerges between Dan and Marie. The biggest offender is Mitch, who -- to divert himself from one devastating disappointment -- immediately proclaims, Let's do something fun! It's game time... again. In real life, human shallowness of this breadth could be grounds for involuntary psychiatric commitment. Ironically, given its inward-focused heart pulling aspirations, be advised that being cooped up with this perky clan may perk up a personal case of cabin fever. Coordinated merrymaking lurks around every kindred corner.
Louis Boram
 Comments
Screen formats: Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1
Subtitles: English; French and Spanish.
Language and Sound: English, French and Spanish Dolby 5.1 Surround.
Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; trailer; deleted scenes; director's commentary; making-of featurette; alternate ending.
- Commentary - Feature-length audio Commentary with co-writer/director Peter
- Featurettes
- "Just Like Family: The Making of Dan In Real Life" (14:58)
- "Handmade Music: Creating the Score" (9:46)
- Deleted Scenes - 11 scenes that didn't make the final totalling 20:05
- Outtakes - 03:25 worth of line flubs and improvs
Number of discs: - 1 - Keepcase Packaging
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Buy the DVD
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Buy the
Soundtrack
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| Steve Carell |
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Dan Burns |
| Juliette Binoche |
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Marie |
| Dane Cook |
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Mitch Burns |
| Alison Pill |
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Jane Burns |
| Brittany Robertson |
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Cara Burns |
| Marlene Lawston |
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Lilly Burns |
| Dianne Wiest |
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Nana |
| John Mahoney |
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Poppy Burns |
| Norbert Leo Butz |
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Clay Burns |
| Amy Ryan |
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Eileen |
| Jessica Hecht |
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Amy |
| Frank Wood |
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Howard |
| Henry Miller |
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Will |
| Ella Miller |
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Rachel |
| C.J. Adams |
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Elliott Burns |
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