Although some people would disagree, I really do try to like movies. I make an effort to keep my expectations reasonable and approach a movie with the assumption that I am going to enjoy it, at least in some degree. My expectations are, of course, influenced by the opinions of friends and family, as well as critical reviews; I must admit that the glowing recommendation of said friends and family and the forgiving reviews doled out by the film buffs led me to believe that "Dan in Real Life" was going to be a decent movie. I feel I was misled.
As much as I worship Steve Carell in all his "The Office" glory, I can't say that I enjoyed his performance here. In fact, I thought all of the performances were either mis-directed or misinterpreted; timing and delivery were awkward in all the leading roles. Exacerbating this quality was the almost Peter Jackson-esque indulgence of tossing editing to the wind and letting scenes go on waaaay too long (i.e. the aerobics, the dancing in the bar, the bowling). Not only am I watching bad acting, but I'm watching the same bad acting go on, and on, and on.
Thematically, the film missed the mark in its interpretation of the instantaneous power of love, the unbelievably forgiving nature of family ties, and the incredibly overrated angst of teenage drama. If you meet someone and are attracted to him/her and find out he/she is dating your sibling, you forget about it and move on. Yes, amazingly enough, people do have control over their lives. If your brother finds you hooking up with his moments-ago-girlfriend, yes, he will punch you, but he will probably take longer than an afternoon to forgive you. And no, teenagers are not unpleasant one hundred percent of the time, and can even be quite empathetic to a struggling parent. Overall, I thought the actual situations presented in the film were realistic, but the over-the-top, one-sided interpretation of them was not.
On the plus side, "This corn is like an angel" is a really terrific line. And that's the end of that.
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