Dan is a fortyish widower with three daughters, writes a local family orientated advice column, and has a big extended family. And, still has a hole left by the death of his wife four years before. When going to visit the family, he happens to meet and fall for a charming woman. Unfortunately, turns out to be she's going out with his brother, and she is there to stay over as well.
[Talking about unfortunate, the Jets loss is OT ... the back-up and defense showing just enough to give one hope, but not enough to win (though, again, the offense didn't always help -- including a key turnover, plus the inability to close the deal in OT). And, the Pats won too ... if by a more reasonable score than usual. Oh well. When will St. Louis and Miami -- both had byes -- win? When will the Pats lose? Will the Giants show up next week vs. the Eagles, the first good team they played since Week 2? Time will tell.]
This makes the stay rather hard to take for poor Dan (Steve Carrell, of The Office etc.), whose is really put upon down -- he comes off as pretty pathetic for a chunk of the movie, though you do feel for the poor guy. The movie is not too deep, but has just enough pathos to give it some weight, and not enough dark to be as depressing as many of the movies out this season. Dan In Real Life (the name of his column), particularly the good ensemble cast, is worth watching, especially if you can be a bit forgiving for its limitations.
Generally a nice thing to do, if possible, anyway.