diogomanuel This movie is first and foremost about love, and it feels so genuine and realistic because it shows love as it usually happens - unexpectedly! You will have to 'feel' and understand the story in order to appreciate it.The story of Dan (one of Steve's best performances I've seen to date!) is the story of many single men and women around the world: feeling lonely while everyone around seem to have a great partner for life's dance.Juliette Binoche (Marie) is a great actress! We already knew it from Chocolate but in this movie she is outstanding. She and Steve shared a special chemistry while making this movie. I'm sure that at the very least they are good friends in real life.When you do feel the story, this will be one of those movies you come back to every now and then...

Python Hyena Dan in Real Life (2007): Dir: Peter Hedges / Cast: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, Emily Blunt, Alison Pill: Comedy about dealings with obstacles. Dan is a widowed father who is invited to his parents for the weekend. A chance encounter with a woman in a bookstore ends up being his brother's girlfriend. Directed by Peter Hedges with predictable circumstances where feelings aren't voiced. Steve Carell plays off the desperation and loneliness of Dan. He doesn't anticipate this weekend outing but this new romance sparks life into his otherwise routine existence. Juliette Binoche struggles with her feelings especially when learning that this charming new stranger is her boyfriend's brother. This cannot end well but viewers will likely understand since Dane Cook as the brother is a complete moron. He is all about everything that families aren't. Do families really play hide and seek, and do stupid group exercises in the yard, or sing foolish love songs? No wonder Binoche chose Carell. Then there is an appearance by Emily Blunt who is hooked up with Carell but ends up in another place by conclusion. Frankly, she seems like the bargain. The cast is a half and half in terms of who has a believable role and who plays a total jackass. Theme regards companionship but in reality most families are more like Dan than the spawn he came from. Score: 6 ½ / 10

rasto_novak When I started to watch this movie, I thought it'll be another average movie from Steve. But after a few minutes I realized that the representation of family in here it's quite close to what I know in person. A big plus for this movie is that the most of it occurs in a big family surrounding, another great thing is the countryside. Lot of familiar actors made all of the scenes hilarious. Dan's everyday troubles with love and his daughters are touching and also a bit provoking. These issues let the audience think – "what would I do, if I were him?" One of the greatest moments of the whole movie is the scene where everybody plays a little act for the others. The song that Dan's brother choose I never heard before. It is my most favorite song ever since! The whole scene, where Dan only plays and then Mitch loses lyrics so Dan has to take over also the singing, is just outstanding. In a meanwhile, the background talk of Dan's sister with Maria even more escalates the emotional legacy of this scene. I liked this very much. I did even find this scene on YouTube and played it several times since I first saw this movie. As all of you might assume, the movie ends with happy ending, but before the conclusion, there are some quite funny moments. I definitely recommend this flick to all family-movie lovers. After all, I personally think that Steve and Juliette played their characters very well.

g-bodyl Some people may find Peter Hedge's Dan in Real Life to be gross and overly sentimental. But I found this movie to be really sweet with one exception and a film that has a big heart beating in the middle of it. Now, I am not a big fan of rom coms but I was glad to see this because I was able to relate to Steve Carell's character not from his point of view, but from the daughters' points of view. That leads me to explain that one exception about the sweetness. The daughters were way too mean to their father. They should have had some more respect to the guy who raised them alone for four years.This film is about a single father who is a columnist that gives readers advice on teens. When he and his daughter take a trip to visit his family, he falls in love with a woman at a bookstore. Little does he know this woman happens to be the girlfriend of his very own brother.Steve Carell was very sweet and likable in the movie. I felt very sympathetic towards his character. He wasn't funny in this movie as he normally is but he shows that he can act without all his jokes. Juliette Binoche is lovely as the bookstore woman. Carell's daughters could have been better if a little nicer.Overall, this is a sweet little comedy or I should say film. It's not really a comedy per se, but a movie that has comedy moments. I am not big on these big romantic comedies, but this film has made me respect the genre a little more. I rate this film 9/10.