...I would stick it (along with the other two) firmly in the air for Dan In Real Life.
My super-cool-most-wonderfulest-awesomest-bestest husband in the whole, stinkin' world made me go out to a movie tonight with my sister. We laughed, we cried. I went into the movie not really knowing what the plot was going to be about (I recommend this for this particular movie) and I was so pleasantly surprised!
All of the characters were wonderfully cast (maybe with the exception of the 15 year old daughter, she was a bit overdone...but so was her character, so maybe that was right) and I love the fact that it all took place in basically one location. No supercrazy camera angles, no gratuitous you-know-what scenes, just a lot of laughs and a couple of good crys without anyone dying or getting in a horrible accident...I hate it when they put a child in danger in movies, it rips my heart out!
There are a couple of suggestive things, but I think I'm going to let my 13 year old see it because it will give her a good view of what it's like to parent willful teen-agers who act superdramatic and don't always listen. It shows a man who is pretty realistic (and I know that Steve Carell is usually so over the top, but I really believed him in this movie) and admits to his mistakes without getting all girly in the end. That's pretty hard to do!
Oh, and Juliette Binoche is, quite possibly, the most beautiful woman in the whole world. She just gets better with age. Dang, she's pretty. That accent is to die for.
I think Dane Cook is crude, disgusting, and a little hard to take but he was just perfect in this role and I ended up liking him a little more after this movie.
Dianne Wiest was also perfectly cast as the understanding, firm, but realistic matriarch of the family without her usual character's trait of being kind of wishy washy or doubtful. She was not trying to outshine all of the other actors and I loved her in this movie.
I really think that if Bella isn't playing yet in your town, you should check out this cute, diversion of a movie and don't be afraid to laugh really hard and get into it. The six other people in the theater were so quiet tonight, that it got me and Anna thinking that we were maybe liking it too much or something...but then we came to the conclusion that other people aren't as animated and fun as we are so it's definitely THEIR problem. If something is funny (even if it's not "realistic" enough for you) you should LAUGH. If something is poignantly sad, you should really cry and not be ashamed about it or afraid it will mess up your makeup.
I just saw Evan Almighty about two weeks ago (we bought it) and we all loved it. My favorite line in that movie was when he was in full Moses mode and he casually asks his quickly-growing-impatient-with-his-antics wife if "we have any unleavened bread?". I just found out that Steve Carell is a life-long Catholic. I don't know anything about his faith life, but he is a REALLY TALENTED actor that is very good at making fun of situations, himself, and NOT at the expense of other people. He shows much humility in his acting which I think is the funniest part of all.
