Dan in Real Life

“Dan in Real Life” surprised me. I wasn’t expecting much and I ended up really liking this “small” film. It’s well written, directed and acted and has a message about family that we could all use being reminded about.

It’s written and directed by Peter Hedges so it shouldn’t have surprised me. He also wrote “Pieces of April,” “About a Boy,” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” — all “small” films with great drama and wonderful stories. If you haven’t seen these three films please do — they are all great (Hedges received a screenwriting Oscar for “About a Boy”). All of his films are tender dramas about family and the struggles that come with being in a family.

“Dan in Real Life” is no different. It’s the story of a single dad raising three girls who also happens to write a syndicated self-help column. The problem is he can’t seem to help himself when it comes to getting over the death of his wife. The story takes place over one weekend at his parents house for a family holiday and touches on subjects like finding love, letting go, forgiveness and coming of age.

John Mahoney and Dianne Wiest are great as Dan’s parents and Juliette Binoche is amazing as the love interest. Dan is played by Steve Carell in a semi-serious role that reminds me of Robin Williams’ first dramatic role in “Dead Poets Society” and Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show”. Carell is good and at times wonderful. He is at his best when he adds that slight touch of humor to the dramatic scene and the shower scene is something you won’t forget.

The story is rushed a bit in the film and some all too convenient plot devices are used to keep things going, otherwise I would be raving even more about this film. If you want a great, romantic film for date night or a touching drama for the family to watch “Dan in Real Life” won’t disappoint. If you are one of those dads who only has daughters this is a must see!!

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Film’s website: http://video.movies.go.com/daninreallife

August Rush

This is a film that I wanted to love, that had all the elements there for me to love, but in the end disappointed me. Why didn’t I love it? I’m not sure director Kirsten Sheridan knew exactly what film she wanted to make since there are so many story lines and characters that get introduced but never fully developed. Is this film about the unbreakable bond between child and parents, or finding one’s true love, or following one’s passion, or fixing the foster care system or something else? With so many characters and story lines no one gets to be developed deep enough to connect with the audience. It’s a shame because there are some very strong performances here. Young Freddie Highmore as the musical prodigy is very strong, Robin Williams is his usual self as a crazy-homeless “Fagin” and Terrence Howard provides a great supporting performance as a concerned social worker. What I didn’t like were the performances by Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers who play the boy’s parents. They seem to be whining and grimacing throughout the film and tend to be too reactionary as characters.

The plot also seems to be too random. Too many times in the film events would happen to push the story forward that had me and my wife asking, why and how? Whether this was an issue with the screenplay or the directing I’m not sure, but it makes watching the film difficult. It’s a shame, since the idea of this film is wonderful and the cast had the potential to make it great, but the execution falls short of the mark.

It’s not a bad rental on a slow night, mainly because it’s a feel-good movie that is very family friendly.

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Film’s website: http://augustrushmovie.warnerbros.com