From a distance
Dan in Real Life may not look like much, and maybe it isn't. Certainly, if it was made with the usual Hollywood gusto and with, say, Jim Carrey and Kate Hudson in the leads, it would be unbearable. But in the hands of filmmaker Peter Hedges and stars Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche,
Dan in Real Life is a heart-filling 98-minute divertissement from reality. Carell plays Dan, a widowed father of three who thinks he's finally found love after he and Binoche's character meet-cute. But a major obstacle arises at Dan's family reunion, setting off the kind of comedy-of-awkwardness that is Carell's bread and butter. Hedges uses the camera to make the viewer a part of the family—though the script has a clockwork efficiency to it and no shame of mawkishness, there's no sense in resisting the movie's old-fashioned charms.
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Aspect ratios:
1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
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Number of discs:
1
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Audio:
PCM 5.1 Surround
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Street date:
3/11/2008
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Distributor:
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Review gear:
- Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 55" Plasma 1080p 3D HDTV
- Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
- Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
- Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
- Pioneer SP-C21 Center Speaker
- Pioneer SW-8 Subwoofer
