This weekend I rented and watched Dan in Real Life in Glorius Blu-Ray (GBR for short).
The nice thing about watching and reviewing a movie that has long left the theaters is that I’m completely untainted by the critical reviews and the box office numbers.
I vaguely know that Dan in Real Life got some decent reviews, but to be honest, I wasn’t even sure what genre of movie it was.
I guess you could call it a romantic comedy, but it’s pretty light on the comedy. There are only a few chuckles here and there.
I’m not even going to go back and see what sort of reviews it got, but I’ll say that I wasn’t overly impressed.
It was just a standard romance movie that vastly under-used the talent of Steve Carrell and Dane Cook (yes I said Dane Cook has talent; sue me).
Now, given the disaster that was Evan Almighty I guess perhaps this movie should be viewed as a masterpiece. It didn’t take any risks, and therefore never fell on its face.
I found the lead actress to be mostly distracting.
I’ve never seen Juliette Binoche in any other films, but I found it extremely difficult to like her in this one. Her character was surprisingly one-dimensional for the story, and the actress herself seemed devoid of charisma.
Charisma is one thing that Dane Cook is full of in my opinion, and it’s a real shame they didn’t use him a little bit more responsibly in the film. He could have been funnier. He could have been a contender.
The whole movie is understated but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
There were certainly times in the movie when I expected a right and got a left. The movie did a good job of staying out of cliche territory for the most part, though the ending was a little bit saccharin compared to the rest of the story.
This is a short review because I don’t have a lot to complain about nor do I have a lot to praise. It was an adequate movie. I think the leading lady was a misstep in casting, but otherwise the movie has adequate performances.
If you’re starved for a quirky romantic comedy then check this one out. Otherwise, just keep your eye out for it on television. It’s not really worth the money.
Verdict: B-