Dan in Real Life

It’s nothing personal, but we genuinely enjoy watching Steve Carell get none. The 40 Year-Old Virgin scores again as an abstinent widowed dad who falls for his brother’s girlfriend (Juliette Binoche) in Dan in Real Life. His subdued performance single-handedly keeps this occasionally mawkish romantic comedy upright. EXTRAS Outtakes and hammier deleted scenes show that the actor’s ”Chekhovian sadness” — as writer-director Peter Hedges calls it in a genial commentary — wasn’t Method; a hidden video montage of his pleas for ”One more take?” exposes Carell’s endearing perfectionism. B+

• By Jeff Labrecque