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Advice columnist Dan Burns (Steve Carell)—a widower raising three girls—unexpectedly finds love during a weekend getaway with his extended family. Unfortunately the woman of his dreams (Juliette Binoche) is also his brother’s (Dane Cook) new girlfriend.

Big questions: Can Carell recover from the disastrous “Evan Almighty”? And, less pressing but still worth pondering, will Cook ever make a good movie?

Skip it: Although it looks promising on paper—with Carell in a role that allows him to balance drama, comedy and romance unlike anything he’s done before, and an inspired choice of leading lady in the Oscar-winning Binoche—“Dan in Real Life” winds up a modest disappointment. The undernourished and overly conventional screenplay explores a potentially complicated situation with all the emotional authenticity of a Lifetime movie. And despite Carell’s best efforts, there’s no disguising the fact that we’re never allowed more than a shallow view of who Dan really is.

Catch it: For yet another one of Carell's patented crazy white guy dances. His smooth moves steal the show.

Bottom line: Instead of building a solid foundation for his capable leads, director Peter Hedges (who also co-scripted with Pierce Gardner) overloads his film with characters and then gives them nothing interesting to do. The end result resembles a slightly warmer version of “The Family Stone” with crossword puzzle contests, talent shows and group aerobics substituting for fleshed-out characters.

Bonus: Cook demonstrates yet another talent he doesn’t have when his character “sings” Pete Townsend’s “Let My Love Open the Door.” At least in this case he’s supposed to be bad.

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