Thursday, January 24, 2008

Dan in Real Life

I recently saw "Dan in Real Life" at the dollar theater here in Provo. It's rare that I see movies that really strike me, but this one did. Although there were a few innuendos that I could have done without, it was overall clean, human, hopeful, and funny. I really enjoyed Steve Carrel's role, because I think he is hilarious, but sometimes he's so obnoxious on "The Office" that it's hard to see him as a real person. For the record, I think "The Office" is quite funny, it was just a nice change to see him in a different role.

I really like seeing comedians in "real life" roles, because I think we get the chance to see them as regular people. For example, I really liked seeing Will Ferrell in "Stranger Than Fiction." Although I think it got mediocre reviews, I thought he did a nice job.

Back to "Dan in Real Life" though. Dane Cook was also great, as were Dan's parents, played by John Mahoney (the dad from "Frasier") and Dianne Wiest (I remember her from "Little Man Tate" and "Edward Scissorhands"). The parents just nailed it on the head.

Finally, the music was awesome. It was mostly done by Sondre Lerche, who I had never heard of. Kind of folky, reminded me of Damien Rice, Kings of Convenience, Mason Jennings, if any of them are familiar. I downloaded the album (I don't frequently buy whole albums anymore) from Itunes cause I liked it so much.

Anyhow, that's my plug for the movie. It's just nice to see decent movies out there that still portray good people who care about their families and want to find love. The love story was believable, partly because, as Dan's mom tells him, "Love is messy." It doesn't seem to happen the way we imagine, but it can be better than we imagined. Well, at least that's what I'm hoping for.

Let's be honest, I think that describes the majority of us out there. :-)

2 comments:

austin said...

That does it: I need to see this movie. My last companion from my mission saw it (post-mission) and loved it, and along with your positive review, I guess that means that I'll check it out, especially if its in the dollar theatre.

Digital Daguerreotypist said...

I watched it when it was in the regular theatre, and I enjoyed it a lot. I like Carrell, it just depends on the role. I also agree with you on Will Ferrell in Stranger than Fiction, except I hate Will Ferrell in any other role because I find him annoying.