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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: A low-key, highly agreeable charmer. Read more
Ted Fry, Seattle Times: Carell plays it fairly straight in a movie that hits high on the scales of comedy and romance, with just a dollop of dramatic reality. It's almost as if he were playing, well, real life. Read more
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: The setup of this comedy by director-cowriter Peter Hedges and some subsequent twists may be contrived, and the laughs aren't very plentiful, but much of the behavior seems real, and the able cast makes the most of it. Read more
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: No sooner than you're stirred by something surprising or genuinely sweet, you're shaken by another piece of shtick. Read more
Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: To call this feel-good comedy conservative is to cede 'family values' to the realm of politics, which, despite a vague NPR-ishness to the characters, is something Real Life refuses to do. Read more
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Dan in Real Life lacks the nerve of genuine storytelling. It's for moviegoers who would have preferred Little Miss Sunshine if that movie hadn't been so gosh-darn dark. Read more
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: If what you want is a star-driven sophisticated romantic comedy that is successfully aimed at actual adults, the wait can seem like forever. Until now. Read more
Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: This is his [Carell's] most assured and rounded performance to date. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: The previews make Dan in Real Life look like a tepid romantic comedy that makes little use of Steve Carell's gifts. Well, the previews are right. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Dan in Real Life is a comedy of faith that, in its wised-up feel-good way, restores yours. Read more
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Hedges is not the most subtle of storytellers, but his sincerity shines through, as does a certain gentleness. Dan in Real Life is one of those films you cheer to succeed, even when it doesn't come close to real life. Read more
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Dan in Real Life is an enjoyable if curious creature, a naturalistic ensemble comedy wed to a high-flown sitcom premise. It's infused with a warm optimism that prevails even through the drama's thornier patches. Read more
Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: The sort of movie that wears down your resistance until, finally, you feel as if something must be wrong with you if you don't fall for the cheap theatrics of its story and the emotional manipulations of its characters. Read more
Gene Seymour, Newsday: Dan in Real Life navigates its machinations with such laid-back assurance that it earns your attention, your respect and, ultimately, your heart. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A mediocre and unbelievable romantic comedy. Read more
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Sweet it is. Remotely connected to real life, however, it is not. Read more
Kyle Smith, New York Post: One character says she's looking for something 'not necessarily hahaha laugh-out-loud funny, something human funny,' and that's what we get. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The heart is there, and the message gets you. Read more
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Almost reflexively, the filmmakers skirt Dan's messier conflicts. But it is the moments when they don't dance around the awkward issue of a brother falling for his brother's girl that Dan is the most poignant. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Beneath its aw-shucks, wants-to-be-liked exterior, this is a bankrupt motion picture. It's cloying, artificial, and not the least bit romantic. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: There are some loud moments and big laughs. Read more
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: There's nothing groundbreaking about Dan in Real Life -- it's a picture that could have been made 10 or 20 years ago -- and yet its easygoing, affable nature is exactly what makes it pleasurable. Read more
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Dan in Real Life fires on so many circuits that at times it's actually shocking how good it is. It tells a funny and emotional story without any of the sentimental shorthand found in most romantic comedies. Read more
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: For all its by-the-numbers plotting, Dan in Real Life is winningly good-natured and funny. Read more
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: In the end, the commercial necessity of wrapping up a family comedy in less than 100 minutes seems to have trumped anything real about Dan's life. Read more
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: A movie nicely packed with pleasantly unpredictable surprises. Read more
Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Now, everybody knows that Steve Carell is lovable. Read more
Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Smoothly entertaining fare, but with a bit more nerve it could have been so much more. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: Why must so many family-friendly romantic comedies give us such wan, forgettable dialogue and predictable situations? Dan is derivative at best, and feels like filmmaking by focus group at worst. Read more
Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: One could fill this entire space with the titles of films from which writer-director Peter Hedges nicks his story. Read more
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The kind of sentimental, patently false romantic pandering whose idea of resolving a scene is for everyone to engage in some cute form of eccentric group activity. Read more