"Dan in Real Life" (2007) - Movie Review

I had some doubts on how Steve Carell is going to differentiate himself from his previous films and also from TV series, “The Office”. His mannerisms and face comics especially in situations of embarrassments or awkward scenes were the reasons behind it. He makes “Dan in Real Life” more worth watching till the end which loses its tracks and falls for the stereotype ending the Hollywood now has materialized and seasoned the audiences to expect and relish upon. Anything new is good and new for considerable amount of repetition loses its shine and interest.

Director Peter Hedges gets us to know Dan (Steve Carell) so fast that we sympathize without much knowing about him. He is a widower with two teenage daughters Jane (Alison Pill) and Cara (Brittany Robertson) and their baby sister Lilly (Marlene Lawtson). Dealing with kids is as such a painful complexity of parenting and with teenagers it just gets more tangled. And they are girls and as a father and mainly as a man, he knows other men of their age. I can assume may be not literally of not being a parent but on some level the empathy of a single father and his horror imagination of his daughter with another boy. He knows the boy and his thoughts, because he was him at one point of time. But what he does not know is that the girls are growing and it is life. You can be watchful but being over protective is going to move the kids away. As soon as they think they are adult, handling them as an adult is not feasible but making them understand the traits of adult hood as they get to see the world is something Dan need to learn on. The kids in their school days as generally think that their father is completely devoid of love; Dan’s daughters are no different, especially Cara who strongly believes she has found her true love in his school mate, Marty (Felipe Dieppa).

He works as an advice columnist moving on grieving for his lost love, his wife. And at the edge of his career advancement, the last thing is his daughters not liking him. They go for their regular yearly get together with his parents, brothers and sisters in Rhode Island. With everyone in the tender care of their loved ones, Dan is confined and located in a laundry room with the washing machines rambling. Left alone, disliked by his kids, he is tired and sad. He goes to get newspapers and bumps into Marie (Juliette Binoche) who flows herself up so fast to Dan (thinking he is the book store guy) but lets him speak once they sit for coffee. Dan desolated by every one not intentionally but seeing people happy remind him of how much he misses it finds love. He does not believe it as we would not either. He gets her number knowing she is in a relationship but hopes to know more about her some day. He is revived and mainly being wanted. He is happy to have a conversation where one listens. May be his brothers, sisters and parents do not want to rekindle the trauma and with Marie as a stranger, he feels fine. To twist the tale and really understand him, situation cracks up Marie turning out to be the girl friend of Dan’s brother, Mitch (Dane Cook). Whether it is true love for both of them within this small span of time is explored and confirmed only to make the situation awkward, broken and finally ending it in a silly formulaic fashion.

I loved the first forty five minutes. And Sondre Lerche’s songs are fitting and the café mood for a holiday feel the film has. Here is the guy who is trying to do his best for his kids and after a long time really wanted to be loved. We sincerely and truly sympathize for Dan. His brothers and sisters are busy with their lives and Marie in front of him teases not sexually which would have been the immediate option for any story like this but her gelling up with the family. It is a strange thing how an advice columnist in the middle of desperation is lost but every one is human. Dan is in tight position and no one to talk to which is why he wants to remind himself of his kids, but they are at the stage of opting for Marie or any others than Dan. Tangled in between he turns out to his niece and nephews who are 4-6 years old and talks his feelings in a general context which even his fourth grade daughter understands and asks him whether he is ok. He is not.

It is understandable for the eccentric outbursts of Dan not able to see his love going away with his brother and fitting with the family. It should have been him than his brother. He deserves that and the audience knows that. Things go in an auto pilot mode when Marie acts strange too. There could have been different methods for her to react on Dan’s connection but she opts to be jealous in a strange fashion not fitting her character. The problem is that we know Dan but we know very little about Marie who misses those targets of silliness and childishness which was perfect on Dan.

Another let down is both him and his kids end up not making truce with each other in a way it supposed to. Here is their father drained and drenched in misery of loneliness and affectionless scenario in his worst part of life of dealing with his daughters’ growing up, they just do not tie the knot. It is a story of Dan finding his love and facing the fact of his daughters’ plane of growing up along with them. It leads us to that but only addresses his love but finishes it in hurried fashion compromising the honesty of the first forty five minutes.

Why does films need to pair up every one and make feel some one deserve or not deserve something instantaneously? Mitch seems to find his true soul mate with Marie as much as Dan. The film does not want him either to be sad face or deserving. They finish him with an unwanted pairing up. When for Dan, we feel he deserves the love, we still know it is not the right way and the film says it and with Mitch it is a customary wrapping up of things. “Dan in Real Life” holds up for Steve Carell and for the first hour, but tumbles upon for formula in the end. People will not face a disappointed ending but leave with an unsatisfied smile.