Dan in Real Life: DVD Review Have you ever had someone tell you only half a joke? This is what it’s like watching Dan in Real Life. It’s a comedy that isn’t funny, a drama that has no drama. It seems that it would be outrageously funny with the killer cast that was involved, but it just goes to show that with a mediocre script you get exactly that, mediocrity. It’s like they were saying to each other in a script meeting, “We’ll get Steve Carell and he will just show up and make it hilarious!” Yeah, that didn’t work.

In a featurette about the making of this film director Peter Hedges says that this film is a “human comedy.” I really didn’t understand what he meant by that, was he trying to make a comedy for humans? Cause you missed it bro. He may have been trying to point out that his comedy was for ‘real people’ but I have never known a family that does crossword puzzle races, or morning workouts on the front lawn, or overly elaborate talent show, maybe that only happens in Rhode Island. Actually, I think that this family was the most unrealistic family I have ever seen. I really never knew who half of the cast was supposed to be and it seemed like random people kept popping into the picture constantly.

The whole film ended up being such a mess. There didn’t seem to be an original thought in the entire piece, everything was super safe and from the first hint of an actual story you can tell exactly how everything ends. Now, Carrell is great on The Office, Dane Cook has a hilarious stand up act, but when you put them together behind the Peter Hedges comedic force it all falls into such a safe and comfortable area that funny and dramatic are so far the only way you can see them is to close your eyes and nap until the credits.

1/2

  ¶ 10:35 PM