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• Dan in Real Life

Steve Carell has really made a career for himself in the last few years with television’s The Office, the indie-hit Little Miss Sunshine and the phenomenal success of The 40 Year Old Virgin. In his newest film Dan in Real Life, Carell plays another appealing goof; this time with a little more dimension. Dan in Real Life is also a light romantic comedy with an off-beat life lesson: although many may plan to map a certain convention path in life, be prepared to be surprised.

Carell plays Dan Burns, an east coast advice columnist and troubled recent widower who is the single dad to three precocious daughters — two high school aged and a fourth grader. On a holiday vacation and a Burns family reunion at his parents’ Rhode Island home, Dan meets a beautiful single woman while shopping in a bookstore. After getting her phone number and a charged ego, he is moments later shocked to be introduced to her at the family dinner ... as his brother’s girlfriend. What follows is an effective mix of romantic comedy, disappointments and funny family situations, all skillfully realized by writer/director Peter Hedges, in much the same style of his previous sleeper hit Pieces of April.

Adding to his newer, unexplored character qualities, Carell has great natural chemistry with his romantic counterpart and the three young women who play his daughters. The usually serious French actress Juliette Binoche, the gal who likes two Burns men, plays light comedy with great aplomb. Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson and Marlene Lawston add effective realistic interplay in the love/hate relationship with their dad, who they mostly see as a loser. Veterans Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney also add a nice touch of elderly humor and wisdom as the Burns family grandparents. Dan in Real Life is an unconventional family comedy that makes you smile a lot.