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If you are dating or engaged or married, or just need to find something to take a girl to, get yourselves over to Dan in Real Life. This is pure date movie gold. Steve Carell plays a widower with 3 daughters and a successful advice column. During the annual gathering of his large family at their home in Rhode Island, he runs into the perfect woman (Juliette Binoche, of course) at a bookstore and instantly connects. But before he can even figure out when he should call the number she gave him, she is introduced to him as his younger brother Mitch’s (Dane Cook) new girlfriend. Painfully-awkward hilarity and heart-warming hijinks ensue ad nauseum, but it all manages to be sweet, charming, and disarmingly funny rather than the less savory alternatives. Part of the appeal is in the movie’s treatment of family. It is incredibly rare to see a big-screen clan that is both functional and believable, and it turns out to be rather refreshing. The rest is in the great writing, endearing performances and obvious passion that went into the making of it. Seriously, get out there and see it.
Alternately, if that doesn’t sound at all like your girl’s cup of tea, give 30 Days of Night a shot. If warm romantic comedy doesn’t do the trick, surely you can’t go far wrong with a slightly above-average survival horror starring really cool vampires, right?
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