Comic actors, like comedies themselves, suffer eternally from being underestimated. The assumption is that actors whose work is primarily, or initially, dominated by light-hearted material must be naturally funny rather than talented. And while that observation might ring true for some portion of the comedic actors who’ve actually been given a decent chance to break the mold, the film Dan in Real Life should be the last word in any discussion about whether or not Steve Carell has legitimate acting chops. Carell plays, a guy named (wait for it) Dan, a widower with three daughters who writes a column on parenting, an aspect of his life which has become his primary focus since his wife’s untimely death.
The dramatic energy throughout the film is created in the setup: Dan is one of several siblings in a large family headed by Dianne Weist and John Mahoney as matriarch and patriarch. Each sibling, save his brother Mitch, have spouses and children. At the start of an annual extended family weekend in a remote cottage community, Dan runs into Marie (Juliette Binoche, with chops and then some, as always) and is uncharacteristically smitten, wiling away an hour with her only to find out later that she is the new girlfriend of his younger brother. The balance of what ensues — both between Dan and Marie and the rest of the family — is at times very funny, at times warm, and at other times heartbreaking. Regardless, both the humor and drama are smart and situational, earned rather than strived for. Maybe the film’s destination is predictable, but I’d be quite surprised if just about everyone doesn’t enjoy the time spent getting there.
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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