Reviews

"Dan in Real Life" is a movie of a widower with three daughters who falls in love with his brother's girlfriend. The story centers around Dan Burns (Steve Carell), a local newspaper columnist who gives parents advice on how to raise and deal with their children. Dan takes his daughters, Jane (Allison Pill), Cara (Brittany Robertson), and Lilly (Marlene Lawston), for a family get-together at his parents house. While out buying the paper one morning he meets Marie (Juliette Binoche), with whom he immediately strikes up a conversation.

Marie ends up giving Dan her number, but has to quickly leave after she gets a phone call from her boyfriend. Dan goes home and begins to tell his family about the woman he has just met, only to be introduced to his brother Mitch's (Dane Cook) new girlfriend, Marie. Over the next several days Dan and Marie try to ignore their feelings for each other, only to eventually realize they cannot keep deceiving themselves or anyone else.

"Dan in Real Life" provides some decent laughs from the interaction between Dan, Mitch, and Marie. Dan's jealousy prompts him to say and do some ridiculous things, which are very entertaining. Also amusing is the slightly over-the-top, yet accurate portrayal of a dramatic teenage girl from Robertson. In her father's attempts to keep her away from her boyfriend, who she claims to have fallen in love with after three days, she falls into hysterics.

While I enjoyed the movie it was perhaps not as good as it could have been. Well-known comic Dane Cook provides few laughs, and even Carrell's performance seemed slightly lackluster compared to his roles in other movies. With some exceptions, his comedy lacks the wit and hilarity he gives to his character in the television show "The Office." Although billed as a "romantic comedy," the movie focuses just as much on familial relationships just as much, if not more, than romance. Dan's relationship with his daughters is just as pivotal as his with Marie, and his relationship with his brother and his parents are also important.

"Dan in Real Life" is an entertaining and touching movie that anyone can enjoy.

Resurrecting the Champ is a movie co-starring Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett, in which struggling sports writer Erik Kernan (Hartnett) meets a homeless man who claims to be "Champ," a former boxing champion who many believe to be dead (Jackson). Kernan proposes to write a story about the Champ, hoping to give himself a much-needed career boost. At the same time he is writing the story, Kernan is also attempting to save his failing marriage and be a father his son can admire and be proud of.

Hartnett is an award-winning actor who has most recently starred in The Black Dahlia and Lucky Number Slevin (2006). Jackson was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role in Pulp Fiction (1994) and has been nominated for and won numerous other awards in his acting career. Resurrecting the Champ is directed by Rod Lurie who has also directed television series "Commander in Chief" (2005) and "Line of Fire" (2003-04).

The actors in this movie play their roles convincingly, from Hartnett and Jackson to Dakota Goyo, who plays Hartnett's six-year-old son. Resurrecting the Champ works on a number of levels. It has boxing for those who are sports enthusiasts, it presents the issue of ethics in the work place, particularly journalism, but the movie can also appeal on a more all-inclusive level as we watch the characters struggle with the consequences of the lies they have told in order to live up to others' expectations.

This movie can appeal to anyone who enjoys a straightforward drama. It has a number of angle--boxing, journalism, family, lies, redemption-- but focuses on a universal theme so that multiple types of audiences can be entertained.