I wound up enjoying most of what I saw, despite its familiarity and predictability. The film's got a good heart.
The movie is also remarkably predictable as it marches toward its inevitable conclusion. Still, like all good romantic comedies, it leaves you charmed and happy and maybe a little teary-eyed before it's over.
"Dan in Real Life" celebrates family and love. It contains no sex, no violence, no profanity. And it accomplishes its purpose with hardly any cloying sentimentality (except that bit at the end I mentioned). Who can knock that?
Video:
The film looks extremely good in its original theatrical ratio, 1.85:1, anamorphic transfer. The standard-definition image quality is excellent. The colors are rich and deep. The black levels can be intense. And facial detail in close-ups is outstanding. Of minor note, the picture can get a tad dark at times, and some medium shots are a touch soft. However, it's quite good all the way around.
Audio:
The movie mainly calls upon the audio to reproduce dialogue and music, which the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack does with ease. It's got a wide front-channel spread, a nice ambient bloom to the music, and occasionally, not often, there are even a few rear-channel effects--a door slamming, some dishes clinking. Voices are anchored out in the center channel, but that's common to most new movies.
Extras:
There is a decent set of extras on the disc, although most of it is of the garden variety. Things start with an audio commentary by the writer/director, Peter Hedges. Then we get a typical making-of featurette, the fifteen-minute "Just Like Family: The Making of Dan in Real Life." A second featurette, "Handmade Music: Creating the Score," ten minutes, is actually a bit more revealing, telling how the director wanted the music to be like a character in the movie. Three minutes of outtakes don't amount to much, but the eleven deleted scenes, about twenty minutes' worth, with optional commentary by Hedges, are the best part of the bonus materials.
The extras conclude with fourteen scene selections and a chapter insert; Sneak Peeks at six other Buena Vista products; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired; and a handsomely embossed slipcover.
Parting Thoughts:
OK, I admit I went into "Dan in Real Life" with some reservations. Frankly, the last few years have not been kind to romantic comedies, and I wasn't expecting the level of humor and sentiment the movie delivered. Or maybe I'm just a sucker when a romantic comedy is this well made. I wound up enjoying most of what I saw, despite its familiarity and predictability. The film's got a good heart.
"Dan in Real Life" celebrates family and love. It contains no sex, no violence, no profanity. And it accomplishes its purpose with hardly any cloying sentimentality (except that bit at the end I mentioned). Who can knock that?
Video:
The film looks extremely good in its original theatrical ratio, 1.85:1, anamorphic transfer. The standard-definition image quality is excellent. The colors are rich and deep. The black levels can be intense. And facial detail in close-ups is outstanding. Of minor note, the picture can get a tad dark at times, and some medium shots are a touch soft. However, it's quite good all the way around.
Audio:
The movie mainly calls upon the audio to reproduce dialogue and music, which the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack does with ease. It's got a wide front-channel spread, a nice ambient bloom to the music, and occasionally, not often, there are even a few rear-channel effects--a door slamming, some dishes clinking. Voices are anchored out in the center channel, but that's common to most new movies.
Extras:
There is a decent set of extras on the disc, although most of it is of the garden variety. Things start with an audio commentary by the writer/director, Peter Hedges. Then we get a typical making-of featurette, the fifteen-minute "Just Like Family: The Making of Dan in Real Life." A second featurette, "Handmade Music: Creating the Score," ten minutes, is actually a bit more revealing, telling how the director wanted the music to be like a character in the movie. Three minutes of outtakes don't amount to much, but the eleven deleted scenes, about twenty minutes' worth, with optional commentary by Hedges, are the best part of the bonus materials.
The extras conclude with fourteen scene selections and a chapter insert; Sneak Peeks at six other Buena Vista products; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired; and a handsomely embossed slipcover.
Parting Thoughts:
OK, I admit I went into "Dan in Real Life" with some reservations. Frankly, the last few years have not been kind to romantic comedies, and I wasn't expecting the level of humor and sentiment the movie delivered. Or maybe I'm just a sucker when a romantic comedy is this well made. I wound up enjoying most of what I saw, despite its familiarity and predictability. The film's got a good heart.
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