'Dan in Real Life' sparks genuine chemistry between Carell and Binoche

Just like the title suggests, "Dan in Real Life" is a comedy that wants to keep it real. At least as real as you can be in a comedy in which Steve Carell hides from his daughter in a shower with a naked Juliette Binoche and then falls off the roof while trying to sneak out of the predicament.

Carell's Dan Burns is a single dad, a widower, and a regional parenting advice columnist on the verge of going national the very weekend of his family reunion. Struggling to keep up with two teenage girls becoming independent way too fast, Carell's warmth and good humor remind us that there's a lot more to him than his needy, self-absorbed figure on TV's "The Office" and in the film "Evan Almighty."

Director/co-writer Peter Hedges does a great job capturing the crazy yet comfortable chaos of family in the overstuffed cabin. But when Dan finds out that the radiant woman (Binoche) he met in a bookstore and fell in love with over coffee is Marie, the new girlfriend of his serial-dating brother (Dane Cook), the madhouse of siblings and spouses and kids becomes downright claustrophobic.

When he can't avoid the gooey couple, Dan becomes downright unpleasant with passive-aggressive table talk over dinner. Carell can pull it off without losing the audience, but it doesn't feel honest coming from Dan. And no matter how much this ensemble underplays the contrivance and tries to make themselves feel right at home, they still seem like they've invaded from another film.

The cozy, lived-in atmosphere created by the ensemble and the unlikely chemistry of Carell and Binoche are so genuine that you wish the rest of the film was just as effortless and authentic.