A few months after starring in one of 2007's biggest bombs, EVAN ALMIGHTY, Steve Carell makes the movie he should have done instead: a low-key romantic comedy that proves Carell has a career beyond The Office and THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN.
A popular newspaper advice columnist, New Jersey widower Dan Burns (Carell) is considerably less successful in his personal life. Four years after his wife's death, Dan finds parenting three girls on his own a bit of a challenge. He's overprotective of his eldest, 17-year-old Jane (Alison Pill), and while trying to keep a tight leash on middle daughter Cara (Brittany Robertson), a drama queen who's sure she's found true love with Marty (Felipe Dieppa), Dan also tends to ignore his youngest, Lilly (Marlene Lawston). As he waits to hear whether or not his "Dan in Real Life" column will be picked up for national syndication, he and the girls make their annual trip to Nannimoluc, Rhode Island, where the entire Burns clan — including brothers Mitch (Dane Cook) and Clay (Norbert Leo Butz), sisters Amy (Jessica Hecht) and Eileen (Amy Ryan), and their sundry partners and children — help Mom (Dianne Wiest) and Dad (John Mahoney) close up their large, shingled summer home for the winter. After settling in — Dan is relegated to a cot in the laundry room after his siblings grab the proper bedrooms — Dan takes a break from family fun to pick up newspapers at the local bookstore. There he meets French beauty Marie (Juliette Binoche), whom Dan thinks is just about perfect: smart, funny, well traveled and passionate about life. Dan charms her by pretending to be a bookseller and they end up chatting away the afternoon. Even though Marie makes it clear that she's currently involved with someone, they exchange numbers. Certain that for the first time since his wife's death he's finally met someone with whom he can see falling in love, Dan races home only to meet the latest weekend arrival: his younger brother Mitch's new girlfriend, Marie.
It's a clever idea for a romantic comedy that presents a credible obstacle for two modern, would-be lovers to maneuver around for 90 minutes, and the character of Dan affords Carell the chance to apply his trademark deadpan delivery to something more dramatic than THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. But the film isn't without problems: Scenes don't flow together particularly well — and the one in which a nude Marie is forced into a shower with a fully clothed Dan is too contrived to be believed and not funny enough to be forgivable. It's clear that despite the talent involved, this is only cowriter/director Peter Hedges' (PIECES OF APRIL) second film. Watching Binoche dithering about an American comedy takes some getting used to, but she's a believable soul mate for the hangdog Carell. The rest of the family, however, has got to go: With their quaint talent shows, arts-and-crafts projects, cheery family breakfasts and football games on the lawn, they're nauseatingly perfect. Someone buy them a TV set and a remote to fight over, fast. leave a comment --Ken Fox
