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Dan in Real Life , starring Steve Carell, is a nice enough movie, most critics seem to agree, but as Joe Morgenstern observes in the Wall Street Journal, "Pleasing moments don't add up to a feature film, even though this one strives desperately for substance and coherence by slathering its slender story with treacly family values." Similarly, Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News calls the film "both likable and undeniably lightweight." Carell receives polite applause but no ovations. Michael Phillips, who calls the film itself a "charmer of the pre-raunch school," remarks: "Carell's performance may not scream for attention. But for this modestly beguiling material, it's just right." In fact, Dan in Real Life appears to be the kind of movie critics hate writing about. They can neither lift it on their shoulders or sink their fangs into it. Their reviews are about as short as the movie itself (which runs just 98 minutes) and in many cases simply summarize what the story is about. A.O. Scott in the New York Times concludes his review by advising "not to expect too much from Dan in Real Life. That way you can be pleasantly surprised."