Dan in Real Life is the real deal

In theaters Friday: 21, Run Fatboy Run, Stop-Loss
New on DVD: The Kite Runner, The Mist, PU-239, Wristcutters: A Love Story

Super Hero Hype has the first exclusive interview with Maggie Gyllenhaal about her role as the new Rachel Dawes in this summer’s The Dark Knight right here. She doesn’t reveal too much here, and all we know from the trailer is that at some point she gives The Joker a swift kick in the cards. But if her previous performances are any indication, Gyllenhaal is a major improvement over Katie Holmes in terms of chops. She should bring more depth and believability to Bruce Wayne’s longtime friend/love interest.

I’m really looking forward to Run Fatboy Run this weekend. The comedy stars one of my new favorite actor/writers Simon Pegg. Pegg co-wrote and starred in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (both highly recommended British comedies). This time he teams with Michael Ian Black to write and star in Run Fatboy Run, playing Dennis, a paunchy average Joe who made the mistake of leaving his pregnant fiancé at the altar. Now the former fiancé — Crash’s Thandie Newton — is dating a fitness freak and successful everything played by the brilliant Hank Azaria. To prove his love and that he in fact is the better man, Pegg tries to whip himself into shape and beat Azaria in a marathon. Getting in shape won’t be easy, but it looks like it will be funny. This film also marks the feature directorial debut by former Friends star David Schwimmer. Check out Aint It Cool’s Q&A with Schwimmer here.

I finally caught Dan in Real Life on DVD last weekend, and was pleasantly surprised. It is essentially the typical romantic-comedy/family drama template, but it is well done and never cheesy. There’s no reason this film shouldn’t be on every couple’s list of rentals for date night. Steve Carell plays Dan Burns, an advice columnist who writes weekly about his adventures as a single father raising three girls. Immediately Carell’s widowed father endears himself to the audience with his abundant love for his daughters. We see him make their school lunches with individual modifications based on their differing tastes and a smiley face of honey to top off a peanut butter sandwich. It’s the kind of stuff that, coming from a comedian like Carell, makes everyone go “aww.” And that is by design. From the first few minutes, writer/director Peter Hedges has us pulling for Dan to succeed professionally, to raise daughters who love and respect him and to find love again.

The action starts when Dan and his girls attend a big family gathering at a seaside Rhode Island retreat where the whole crew cavorts like best friends and plays more games — everything from charades and hide-and-go-seek to touch football and a talent show — than any family I’ve ever seen. This dynamic is somewhat cartoonish in a loveable middle-class Kennedy clan way, but fun to watch. And it helps that these characters come from the heart.

Now nothing could be worse than falling in love with an intelligent, attractive woman only to find out that she is dating Dane Cook. Nothing. But that’s what happens to Carell here when he discovers that his new crush has been dating his younger brother for several weeks. To a certain extent the attraction is mutual, but the awkwardness and mixed-emotions of the entire situation explode in both comedic and dramatic directions.

Ultimately the film is about Carell confronting the emotions of his devastating loss, reconnecting with his family and balancing his love for his daughters with his need for companionship. Carell shows great range here, and the scene where he plays an acoustic version of Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door” is a near-tear jerker. Dan in Real Life is a smart, affecting comedy and it is one of this month’s best new DVDs. Carell returns April 10 with fresh episodes of The Office and can be seen in Get Smart beginning June 20.