Dan Ashburn is a devoted single father and renowned advice columnist. When he packs up his three daughters for a family reunion at a beach-front house, he runs into Beth, the perfect woman. She is smart, funny, gorgeous, not to mention that his entire family loves her. But there is one problem. She just happens to be his brother Lowell's new girlfriend. Proving that the hardest advice to take is your own, Dan is forced to wake up and realize the power of that small ability that we call love.
With a less than desirable beginning and lackluster laughs throughout Dan in Real Life fails from a weak script and story falling short of expectation.
Going into Dan in Real Life I felt the film offered lots of promise. Steve Carell was set to prove himself as a "˜bankable' film star as the story seemed to be intriguing and had potential to stir up tons of laughs. However, walking out I had lost all hope. The film was slow, weak and worst of all not funny.
The film starts off with the perfect father, Dan, running into an obscene amount of trouble raising his three daughters by himself. The oldest is in the process of getting her drivers license and seems to gets pissy way too often, while the middle child, Cara, quickly becomes the "˜drama queen' of the household and proclaims that she is in love at the age of 13. Then you have the youngest daughter, Lilly, who wants nothing more than to be "˜daddy's little girl' thus resulting in a house full of ciaos. The film poises to be sweet, inspirational and hilarious but unfortunately it only delivers on the first two of those promises.
The film drags, and conversations between family members seem to be pushed and unnatural; not to mention the ridiculous presence that Dane Cook brings to the screen. The guy talks with his hands way too much and tends to turn focus from the film to himself and really brings the film down in the process.
However, with all that said there was some good in the film. The ending finished strong with some timely laughs and great "˜inspirational' moments. However, it just seemed to be a little too late to save the film.
In the end Dan in Real Life was more of a dramedy. Concentrating more on the family aspect and the relationship a dad has with his daughters instead of laughs. The result is a film lacking chemistry and jokes, providing another failed attempt in Carell's attempt to make the transition from television to film.
