The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 2, 2007 Page: 14 of 24
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14
THE RICE THRESHER ARTS * ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2,2007
COURTESY FOCUS FEATURES
Dan (Evan Almighty's Steve Carell) takes a moment from his column writing to sit with Marie (Chocolat's Juliette Binoche) in
the new film Dan In Real Ufe. In this romantic comedy, Dan has trouble balancing his love life, family life and newspaper life.
Carell carries mediocre Dan in Real Life
by Lily Chun
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAEE
In the popular television show
The Office, Steve Carell's character
Michael Scott is notorious for perpe-
trating comedy that falls horribly flat.
The same could be said of Carell's new
movie Dan in Real Life. This movie is
more like a disheartening dramedy
than a lighthearted comedy, despite
the presence of genuine characters.
'dan in real life'
★ ★1/2 of five
Now infaying at AMC and
ilii Edwards theaters
In Dan in Real Life, Carell stars
as Dan Burns, an advice columnist
and a single father with three girls.
Dan's three girls, 17-year-old Jane
(Confessions of a Teenage Drama
Queen's Alison Pill), 14-year-old
Cara (Frank's Brittany Robertson)
and 9-year-old Lilly {Flightplan s
Marlene Lawston), all get into the
father-daughter disagreements typi-
cal of their respective ages. So when
the four go to a family get together,
Dan goes to a bookstore to give his
daughters some space. There, he
meets Marie (Chocolat's Juliette
Binoche), and they subsequently fall
for each other. But, surprise, Dan's
brother Mitch (Good Luck Chuck's
Dane Cook) is already dating Marie.
The two keep their interest a secret
and try to forget about each other
until neither can hide it any longer.
As Dan tries to avoid Marie, he finds
himself becoming a hypocrite to his
daughters. Dan has to find a way to
win back his daughters and get the
girl as well.
In spite of the
MEDIOCRE plot,
Carell makes the
best of things with
his performance.
This plot has two major flaws.
First, though one would think
Dan's job as a columnist would be
essential in showing how different
he is when it comes to his family,
the movie barely makes any refer-
ence to it.
The second major flaw is the fact
that everything in the world unre-
alistically works against Dan. It is
impossible not to feel sorry for him,
which is basically an easy tactic on
the part of moviemakers to create
a likeable character. He is a caring
father that tries his best to be a good
single dad, doing his daughters'
laundry and drawing smiley faces
on bread while he makes their
lunches. Yet throughout the entire
movie, his kids shoot him down, his
family gets angry with him and a
series of unfortunate events keep
happening to Dan that make the
plot unrealistically fatalistic.
It is bad enough that Dan is a
widower. It is bad enough that he falls
for his brother's girlfriend. He does
not need to be the victim of a string
of unlikely happenings that seem to
be thrown in to the movie without a
purpose. Does Dan really need to be
pulled over by a cop twice for acciden-
tally passing the stop sign because he
is pining after Marie? Does he need
to be stuck sleeping in the room with
the loud, rickety dishwasher?
In spite of the mediocre plot, C arell
makes the best of things with his per-
formance. Carell uses his wide range
of emotions to make Dan a pleasant
and even funny character. Though the
movie elicited few audible laughs, it
definitely had its momentss—specifi-
cally, moments that remind the audi-
ence of Vie Office. When C arell retorts
and laughs to the police officer who
has pulled him over, one immediately
thinks of Michael Scott.
Train's Monahan unsuccesfully
attempts solo sound in Seven
by Sean McBeath
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Train fans waiting with bated
breath for Pat Monahan's debut solo
album, Last of Seven, should now
exhale. Despite his tenure as Train's
lead singer, Monahan fails to carry
over much of Train's musical majesty.
Rather, he seems to spend time avoid-
ing the sounds that have made him
successful in the past
'last of seven'
by pat monahan
★★1/2 of five
It is unclear whether Monahan took
a large bribe from the Choir Singers'
Union when he was recording Last of
Seven or if he simply fell on his head.
Either way, an overabundance of a
background choir drags this album
to the depths. Given the variety
of styles with which he filled this
release, Monahan probably thought
that the choir would help distinguish
his sound from Train's. But it merely
distractsfrom Monahan'sown singing,
randomly punctuating lines with no
special meaning and filling minute-
long instrumental gaps that would
have been better off left alone.
That is not to say that Monahan's
experimentation is not refreshing, as
he takes on styles from rock to piano
ballads to something in the range of
hip-hop. But even though audiences will
appreciate Monahan's forays into new
territory, disorganization within the
album makes it feel merely jumpy.
After a brief and troubled opening,
ImsI of Seven settles into a relative
monotony of somewhat predictable
and dull numbers. 'Hie single from
this album, "Her Eyes," is nowhere
near the finest offering here. It has a
sound redolent of Jason Mraz's'The
Remedy (I Won't Worry)," but Mo-
nahan's rhymes and delivery have
neither the catch nor the skill to make
it believable or worthwhile. Lines
like "She's got the kind of strength
every man wishes he had / She loved
Michael Jackson up until he made
Bad"bringinto question whether his
rhyming dictionary was lost.
Given the grace with which
Monahan and Train handled the
love song genre with refreshingly
original lyrics and soundtracks, this
track feels hollow.
But Monahan does manage to
convert even the sappiest of songs
into something bearable. "Cowboys
and Indians," which opens with the
lines "Cowboys and Indians / heteros
and gays / blacks and whites / and
all of their ways / they're all dancing
underneath the moon," is perhaps
the sappiest song written since John
Lennon's "Imagine." Despite the
maudlin nature of its lyrics, "Cowboys
and Indians" does something that
Monahan manages only once on this
album: Use choir vocals effectively
Rather than flooding his choruses
with their chanting, they join in only
at appropriate times.
The standout tracks on this album,
not surprisingly, are those that stay
close to Train's well-wrought style.
'Two Ways to Say Goodbye" and
"Pirate on the Run" both rise above
the drab offerings that make up the
rest of the album.
'Two Ways to Say Goodbye," the
only track that Monahan authored
alone, follows more in the footsteps
of previous efforts like "All-American
Girl" and "I )roos of Jupiter" in its lyrics.
Monahan sounds at home in this style
of song — unlike the more divergent
tracks. "Pirate on the Run" should
probably have been the single released
from this album; unfortunately, it
would serve as poor advertising.
Monahan, while not bad, is quickly
eclipsed by Brandi Carlile's outstand-
ing vocals in this duet. The "Pirates"
arrangement is nothing grand or new,
but stays simple and does not distract
from the lyrics, which are the true
value of this number.
Last of Seven is a valiant effort as
a freshman album; its variety keeps
it exciting enough to allow audi-
ences to forgive the lark of value
in some of its songs. Ultimately, it
feels as if Monahan was rushed into
a sound that is not his. Regardless,
the album makes for some good
listening, but do not bother listen-
ing too closely.
" — ■■■•■ —"
Hieuin. voa
s?
we CNe*
tvjo m up*. Tpe.
im W&uet vm,
Hov>eve*.
MWSl1!! A
vjouu em.M^
1
Wow... wikipedio, facebook, newgrounds
youtube, google news slashdot The
internet has so many great things!
^5
But Hobart warned me it had many
terrible, TERRIBLE things too., he
even gave me a list of things to f
avoid at all costs
Thinqs like furries vore
fanfiction.net.. goatse yaoi
I know11 II enter some of the top ones
on the list as a search string on google
(Image search! That way I'll know exactly
|what I shouldn't click on in the future*
I wonder what these things
even are? f~
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Whitfield, Stephen. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 2, 2007, newspaper, November 2, 2007; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443115/m1/14/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.