Buena Vista Pictures
They’re already calling this Steve Carell’s mistake. In truth I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. With the exception of Little Miss Sunshine, Steve Carell’s acting isn’t much different from one movie to the next. So how is this movie different? Its worse, that’s how.
Simple story, boy meets girl, she’s brother’s girl, boy tries to get girl. There are plenty of attempts at outcuting any movie this year. There are moodily cute teenagers, cute family reunion, and a cute cabin by the shore torn out of a Land’s End catalog. Add it all together and you get a loose pile of beach muck, just down the bank from said cabin.
Remember The Family Stone? Sound similar? As corny as that movie was it left you feeling warm and fuzzy. “Dan” tries so hard for fuzziness it probably needs another round of full-family hide and seek.
That’s not to say that there aren’t good moments. You can’t help laughing along with Juliette Binoche trapped in a shower with a fully dressed Steve Carell. Binoche brings levity to every scene she’s in. Dane Cook is just annoying enough to get you to root for the good guy. John Mahoney plays the dad as effortlessly as ever. Sidenote: When was the last time John Mahoney didn’t play Dad. Even as a drag performing West Hollywood club owner, he was still the understanding Dad.
The soundtrack is bland and butts into the movie when it should stay unnoticed. It wants to be lingering in the background and helping the scenes along, adding feeling instead of awkwardness. Instead it chimes in like a barely-muted cellphone ring.
I’m not saying this is a bad movie. If you are bored one afternoon, seen everything else playing, need to a reason to get away from whatever, this is an excuse. But it is a movie to rent along with something else, so at least one rental will seem worth the money.
Maybe you haven’t done a lot of acting, and perhaps you haven’t seen a lot of movies lately . . .
I would dare to say that Steve Carell is one of this years best actors. It is really hard to fake the emotions that this man spill out of this mans eyes. Perhaps you didn’t connect with the themes in this movie, but you know what they say . . . Those who can’t do teach, and those who can’t teach critique.