Reviews
Dan in Real Life and Charlie Wilson's War
Single, love-starved characters in Hollywood romantic comedies should count their blessings. Despite all the misfortunes and humiliations that litter the path to enduring happiness - catching extremities in a zip, falling for their comatose fiancé's brother - these desperate singletons invariably snag Mr or Ms Right by the end credits, and seal the deal with a polished one-liner. And when they wake the next morning and look in the mirror, it's Kate Hudson or Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock or Hugh Grant staring dreamily back at them. Life certainly sucks.
Dan In Real Life follows the well-worn template but sketches its quirky characters with such affection, and delivers each set-piece with such wit and panache, that it's hard to resist Peter Hedges's tender and bittersweet confection, his follow-up to familial drama Pieces of April. Most importantly, the unlikely central pairing of Steve Carell (Little Miss Sunshine) and Juliette Binoche generates sparks of sexual chemistry that still smoulder after the film's comic centre-piece: a delirious and farcical shower sequence.
Newspaper advice columnist Dan Burns (Carell) is about to be syndicated. His readers avidly devour his every word about the pressures of raising a balanced family. Sadly, Dan doesn't always practise what he preaches. Four years after the death of his wife, he still won't glance at another woman and he is struggling to connect with his three daughters: 17-year-old Jane (Alison Pill) who is desperate for more driving lessons, Cara (Brittany Robertson), 15, who is convinced she has fallen in love after just three days, and Lilly (Marlene Lawston), eight.
Tensions flare during the annual family reunion. A visit to a local store to pick up the morning newspapers is a perfect excuse for Dan to take time out, only for the columnist to meet beautiful stranger Marie (Binoche). The attraction is immediate. Dan returns home to discover that Marie is the girlfriend of his brother Mitch (Dane Cook), and has been invited for the weekend too.
The film has charm and snappy dialogue in abundance, and a winning performance from Carell as the widower, who desperately tries to ignore his true feelings for Marie for the sake of harmony. Denial only makes Dan frustrated and irritable, so he tries a different tack: fanning the flames of jealousy by going on a blind date with family friend Ruthie 'Pigface' Draper (Emily Blunt). The resultant bar-room dance-off is priceless.
Binoche is an excellent foil, with sterling support from the ensemble cast, not least the youngsters who bring emotional depth and vulnerability to their disillusioned daughters who denounce Dan as "a murderer of love". By turns hysterical and deeply touching, Hedges' film breathes fresh air into a familiar slice of dysfunctional life.
Although it stops tantalisingly short of drawing explicit links between American involvement in Afghanistan during the early 1980s and the rise of al Qaida, Mike Nichols's starry political satire Charlie Wilson's War draws a trickle of blood with its timely references to conflict in the Middle East.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin gifts the most telling lines to the eponymous politician, played with easygoing charm by Tom Hanks.
During an appearance before a funding subcommittee, Charlie complains bitterly, "This is what we always do. We go in with our ideals and then we leave. We always leave." Julia Roberts' s slinky socialite fans the air of cynicism. "Why is Congress saying one thing and doing nothing?" she asks Charlie. "Tradition, mostly," he replies.The best line in the film enforces the sentiment: "You're not stupid - you're in Congress."
Based on true events, the film revolves around naive and idealistic Texas congressman Charlie Wilson (Hanks), who is destined for great things on Capitol Hill, flanked by feisty assistant Bonnie Bach (Amy Adams). When on-off socialite lover Joanne Herring (Roberts) begs for help repelling Soviet forces in Afghanistan, Charlie agrees to spearhead the campaign to increase funding for Mujahideen freedom fighters. Tapping into a ground swell of support, Charlie aligns himself with maverick CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and together they begin greasing the political cogs.
The two men woo high-profile figures like Pakistani president Zia ul-Haq (Om Puri) and political heavyweight Doc Long (Ned Beatty), chairman of the Defence Appropriations Subcommittee. Collective guilt on Capitol Hill ensures funding for US covert operations swells from a paltry five million dollars to one billion dollars, providing the rebels with armaments to overwhelm the Soviet might. When the Reds subsequently retreat, Charlie is feted as a hero, unaware that the terrible legacy of this intervention will become chillingly clear on an autumn day in New York City in 2001.
Considering the glittering calibre of talent on screen and behind the camera, the film is a disappointment. Hanks and Roberts are solid but the film only comes to life when Hoffman bursts on to screen as the sardonic, anti-authoritarian CIA agent.
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