Dan in Real Life (2007)

"Dan in Real Life" is solid comedy for adults and anyone else tired films that rely solely on flatulence and gross-out humor to get laughs.

Steve Carrel is the Dan of the title, a single widower of three girls. Two of the daughters are teenagers going through the heady emotion that comes with that age, while the youngest girl is coming to that age where you realize your parents are not know-it-all saints. The family is on its way to one of those lavish family reunion weekend getaways that I swear only happens in film. There, Dan constantly is short-changed and belittled by his family. That is, until he meets Marie (Juliette Binoche) at a bookstore. He instantly falls in love with her, but she's got a secret.

This is a really familiar story, done several times. You know Marie's plotline before it's ever revealed, but the film has such a sweetness to it, it's hard not to like it. And it's all because of Carrell, who's so winning here playing comedy, drama, frantic desperation and loneliness. The guy's got talent in spades. B