Dan in Real Life DVD Review

While Steve Carell often borders on over-the-top in his role of Michael on television’s “The Office”, it’s his ability to be funny yet serious that opens him up to such a wide fan base. Let’s face it, Carell stole every scene he was in during Little Miss Sunshine, and he does much the same in the film Dan in Real Life.

Director Peter Hedges’s Dan in Real Life is a smart, bittersweet story about family dynamics and love, backed by terrific performances from its starts, including Carell, who plays Dan Burns, an advice columnist and single parent who’s raising three daughters alone since his wife’s death.When the Burns family heads to Rhode Island for some family time, Dan has the chance to get into town for a brief visit, where he meets Anne-Marie (played by Juliette Binoche).The pair seem to share a connection, and although she leaves quickly after her boyfriend calls, viewers get the feeling that whoever the boyfriend is, he’s not as right for her as Dan.When Dan returns home, he gushes about the woman he just met, all before he realizes that Anne-Marie’s new boyfriend is his brother, Mitch (played by Dane Cook).

Rather than just laugh it off, Dan goes a bit off the deep end, and while most actors would have taken things too far, Carell does a nice job of keeping it reigned in while playing what amounts to a stalker. The cast is rounded out by Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson and Marlene Lawston (who play Dan’s daughters), as well as John Mahony and Dianne West (who play his parents). Emily Blunt also pops up as a possible love interest for Dan.

Both Carell and Binoche seem to have genuine chemistry together, and that coupled with the likes of Cook et al, makes me think this was a fun film to make.The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and enhanced for widescreen displays, with audio in English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital Surround 5.1, English captions, as well subtitles in French and Spanish.

Extras include feature-length Audio Commentary with co-writer/director Peter Hedges, who among other things, shares that he was raised by his single father from childhood.The featurette “Just Like Family: The Making of Dan In Real Life” offers cast and crew interviews, as well as behind-the-scenes footage. The featurette “Handmade Music: Creating the Score” offers background n the score for the film, as well an interview with Sondre Lerche, who arranged the score.

There are also some deleted scenes (11) with optional director commentary, as well as some amusing outtakes, complete with improv and line flubs.For fans of films such as The Upside of Anger, Dedication and Little Miss Sunshine, as well as fans of Carell or comedy-drama hybrids, there’s a lot to like about Dan in Real Life.