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Critics Consensus: The fine performances elevate Dan in Real Life beyond its sentimental plot.
Critic Consensus: The fine performances elevate Dan in Real Life beyond its sentimental plot.
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All Critics (170) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (110) | Rotten (60) | DVD (12)
Smoothly entertaining fare, but with a bit more nerve it could have been so much more.
This is his [Carell's] most assured and rounded performance to date.
Now, everybody knows that Steve Carell is lovable.
It's a nice film. There's some nice touches to it.
Why must so many family-friendly romantic comedies give us such wan, forgettable dialogue and predictable situations? Dan is derivative at best, and feels like filmmaking by focus group at worst.
A movie nicely packed with pleasantly unpredictable surprises.
A charming, though occasionally off-target -- and consistently tempo-challenged -- romantic comedy.
The most cloying family meeting since A Very Brady Christmas
Una comedia romántica muy menor, predecible e intrascendente que desaprovecha por completo el talento de un buen elenco. Una lástima.
What's wrong with Steve Carrell? His is one of the quickest falls from comedy to crap since Chevy Chase.
A creature made of gingerbread and hugs.
I prefer a little more dysfunction in my dysfunctional family comedies.
It is not only an endurance test to stay in the company of such a detestable character and his detestable family, but the movie is also a sentimental pile of clichés from the first scene to the last - including that unnecessary, ridiculously corny last scene during the end credits.
Super Reviewer
"Dan in Real Life" is enjoyable - stories about falling love usually are. Not every movie needs to have the complications of "Hamlet".
Dan in Real Life suffers the usual family comedy film with overbearing clichés from many other films that came before it. I thought that this film was a wasted opportunity to make a film that would have great comedic bits, and be overall a fun, entertaining comedy. However, I found myself mostly bored with this, and not laughing all that much. I thought that Steve Carrell, who is usually really funny, was wasted here and that the rest of the cast just didn't cut it. I thought that Dan in Real Life could have been much better than this, and I felt that the jokes could have been better. Steve Carrell, like I said is wasted here, and I don't even know why this film has Dane Cook in it, aside from his role in Waiting, he's not funny as a comedian and actor. The film started with potential, and it was funny at times, but unfortunately, by the final act, everything including the jokes fall apart, and the film ends up being a total waste of time. I think this film could have been better if the screenwriters would have put a bit more effort into the script. After a while, the film becomes predictable, and you know what will happen next. As a viewer, you lose interest and end up not caring what happens next because we've seen it a hundred times before. This comedy leaves a lot to be desired and overall, it's boring, and I just couldn't get into it. I think that this film could have been better, but it was not to be. Not one of Steve Carrell's best.
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