Get Out of the Norm

Steve Carell plays Dan Burns, a newspaper writer who pends the column “Dan in Real Life”, where people write him letters asking questions and he advises them on life, the universe and everything. Naturally, his own life is a shambles: his three daughters all resent him for one reason or another, he is a widower, and, of course, while attending a sort of family reunion (there is never really a reason for the get-together), he meets a girl he really likes, who turns out to be his brother Mitch’s new girlfriend. Of course Mitch has invited her to spend the weekend with the family in order to meet them, and the whole movie takes place over these three or four days they all have together.

So, yeah, some of the above plot points might feel overused. But the way they are presented is refreshing!

Steve Carell, thank God, never really puts you in mind of Michael Scott, save for a line here or there, and one (still funny) scene in which he dances. This role isn’t as good as the suicidal, homosexual Proust scholar from Little Miss Sunshine (which I will still say he was the best part of), but its still a good role for him and his particular brand of dramedy.

The rest of the cast, as well, is very fun to watch, working with a script from director Peter Hedges (known for writing About a Boy and Pieces of April, as well as directing the latter) and Pierce Gardner. Juliette Binoche, know best perhaps for her role in Chocolat, delights us here again as Dan’s love interest and his brother Mitch’s (Dane Cook) girlfriend Marie. Binoche makes a great partner for either Cook or Carell: she’s energetic enough to match Mitch, and grounded enough to foil Dan’s offbeatness. Either way, she’s a joy to watch. Dane Cook, also, manages to restrain his usually manic brand of comedy and really act a character — you can definitely see he’s acting, definitely trying, as the character itself is not very deep, but he’s still good. And this is what makes the whole thing difficult for Dan, and the audience, really: Mitch is a good guy. Let alone being Dan’s brother, you know that Mitch really does care about Marie and likes her a lot. When she eventually leaves him (I’m not giving anything away, this movie’s part chick-flick, you know it had to happen) it is hard not to feel sympathy for Mitch, and you even find yourself wondering if she made a mistake in leaving him. How often does a movie get you to wonder that about its main love triangle?

The ensemble cast brings forth nice performances as well, and most importantly they all feel like a family. There’s a lot of people, but you can feel the warmth there. I know I keep coming back to that word ‘warmth’, but it’s true: this family cares for one another, and you can see it. John Mahoney, in what might be his first role since Fraiser, plays Carell’s dad, Dianne Wiest plays his mother, and a host of other actors and actresses play his sisters, brothers, nephews and nieces. When they all play a family game, or hold a family talent show, it really feels like they’ve done this a million times. When they all encourage Dan to go out and start dating again (no one knows about his pining for Marie except Marie, after all), Emily Blunt comes in as a girl Mitch and Dan once knew as “Pigface”, but who appears at the doorstep looking lovely (its later revealed she’s a plastic surgeon). Prior to her entrance, however, Dane Cook and Norbert Leo Butz — as Clay, another one of Dan’s brothers — are improvising a song about “Pigface” and one can’t help but laugh with Clay on the piano and Mitch singing. Pretty soon, everyone joins in, and the audience feels right in there with them. And then everyone’s jaw drops when “Pigface”, who is anything but, walks in.

The only thing I think this movie overdid, or made any big mistake on, was in making Dan the odd man out every single time. If something in the movie goes wrong, its always to him. Even when the rare good things happen to Dan, the good feelings don’t last long. It seems that as much as the family professes to love and care for Dan, they don’t mine bursting his bubble relentlessly, whether they’re aware of it or not. His daughters, too, turn on him for basically for the entire movie, and while, granted, he’s being a little unreasonable in terms of his parenting, everything he does for them is out of love. And naturally he tends to ignore (towards the end) the one daughter who does still like him towards the end.

All told, however, the film entire is very enjoyable, and worth a watch, though probably more fitted for couch viewing than theatre. It’s not Little Miss Sunshine, but then again, you can only take so much of that movie anyway. It’s a fun family dramedy — with a larger focus on comedy, really, not sure why they marketed it as a dramedy — that, while not really teaching you anything or taking you anywhere terribly new, does leave you with a good feeling at the end. You’ll want to see your own family, at least.