The Cynical Critic

A couple of things first: Sorry for the lack of posts this past week. I have been really tired lately, and I have been struggling with things to review or look at (I haven’t been to the movies in months, and I have hardly had any time to rent stuff as well). On top of that, I haven’t played a new game in quite some time. Finally, I haven’t either bothered with new music. Basically, my life is pretty boring right now. But I’m sure you could careless about my piss poor excuses as to why I don’t bother writing. So, because of that, here’s a quick review of a movie I happened to catch over the weekend. Yay.

Dan In Real Life stars Steve Carell who plays a single parent struggling to raise his three daughters. Carell eventually takes his daughters to visit his parents as well as his family, where by strange luck he meets a girl. He falls for her, and it seems she feels the same, but their time is cut short as she gets a call from her boyfriend and she then leaves.  Later, Steve arrives at his parents cabin where his brother (played by Dane Cook) arrives with his girlfriend, who happens to be the same girl Carell had met earlier.

Although the movie certainly isn’t an Oscar winner or anything of that sort (nor was it meant to be), Dan In Real Life is still a decent comedy. Carell really seems to have found his role playing the part of just the average type guy. Dane Cook is definitely better in this film than his previous movie endeavours (Good Luck Chuck, and Employee of the Month). Cook is an actor who fairs much better as a supporting actor, as oppose to one where he plays the star role. Regardless, he plays the part of the younger, cool, hip brother, who you kind of want to hate.
Juliet Binoche also plays her part well as the main actress, and love interest for Carell.

Dan In Real Life isn’t necessarily one of those movies that will have you gasping for air because of it’s humor, but it certainly does have it’s funny parts. In a lot of ways I found this movie a lot like Meet the Parents, in the sense that a number of things consistently go wrong for the protagonist, but everything ends up working out in the end. Also, the humor in this movie is quite similar to Meet the Parents as well (which is a good thing). Regardless, it’s definitely better than Meet the Fockers.

Overall, Dan In Real Life is a decent, humorous comedy, and for what it lacks in over the top “LOL” moments, it more than makes up for it’s warm and charming characteristics.

6.5/10