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!!

Rating:

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

Feast of Love

What happened with this movie? How can a film with such great acting (I’ll watch Morgan Freeman do anything!) be so disappointing? Maybe this is one of those films that tried too hard to adapt a book that just wasn’t going to make a good film (see Stephen King’s “It”) or director Robert Benton lost his way in the editing room. Either way, this is a frustrating film to watch.

The first third of the film tests your best puzzle-solving skills as you never know where you are in the film’s timeline. People are meeting, sleeping together, getting married, and getting divorced so quickly you never know how much time has passed. It’s even confusing watching the sex scenes because it’s not clear, at first, who is sleeping with whom. I know one of the themes of this movie is about finding one’s sole mate, but when you confuse the audience to the point of laughter (that’s what happened in my house) it just doesn’t work.

Once the film settles down and all the characters meet their sole mates, the story is actually good. Why? Because the assemble cast delivers a great performance. Freeman is great but so is Greg Kinner as a hapless romantic, Radha Mitchell as a cold adulteress and Toby Hemmingway as a doomed lover. Two performances of note here are given by Alexa Davalos and Jane Alexander who play strong women struggling to overcome loss. Both are subtle, yet powerful performances.

If not for the great acting and strong ending in this film I wouldn’t give it a single projector, but on a slow day with nothing else to do, it might make an ok rental.

Rating: 1/2

Film’s Website: http://www.feastoflovefilm.com/