"Dan in Real Life," which opens Friday, is a romantic comedy like one of Woody Allen's lesser movies. It's a pleasant enough little fling, better than most, mildly disappointing, writes reviewer Ron Wolfe in Friday's MovieStyle section. Steve Carell is the nebbish, and Juliette Binoche ably subs for Diane Keaton as the poor guy's soul mate.
It kindles enough warm chuckles to be worth a night out. It's an absolutely safe date movie. A married couple could see it and it would make them feel like coffee and dessert afterward; the only reason to leave the kids home is that it wouldn't interest them. But it's far from Carell's comedic antics in "The Forty-Year-Old Virgin."
There's no loss of chest hair, and in fact nothing as funny as the poster that shows Carell resting his dejected head on a pile of pancakes. The pancakes in the movie get eaten.
"Dan in Real Life" finds not only Carell but also comedian Dane Cook reaching for some tender heartstrings, and they actually plink some. The end is - fair warning - sniffly. But it's no surprise: Five minutes in, you know you're going to wind up with a honk.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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