Dan in Real Life review

We got a recommendation from a friend that "Dan in Real Life" would be a good romantic comedy with a good amount of romance, yet something I (Paul) would enjoy watching as well. I personally am not into movies where the guys are merely there to add the romance factor and have no real function other than to sweep the main girl character off of her feet. Sure sappy love stories have their place, but I appreciate good romantic comedies that have some substance to the characters lives. We were not at all disappointed with "Dan in Real Life". This movie was great. The characters are well-played, and very true-to-life at times, and the story isn't boring at all and moves along very well. The main plot of the story is a guy named "Dan" who is the single father of three girls and also works as a newspaper columnist. Dan is just trying to do a good job as a dad to his three girls when he meets this intriguing woman at a bookstore and really hits it off talking to her. He thought all was going well, until he finds out that his brother is dating her. I won't go any further than that, but this movie did a wonderful job showing how awkward and weird falling in love can be (especially around your close family). I thought the family relationships shown in this movie were really shown in a great 3 dimensional way, and yet it still showed that the extended family cared about each and every person. Dan has trouble throughout with his feelings, but one of the characters wisely shares with him that "love isn't just a feeling, it is an action you take" (my paraphrase). I have to agree with that message, and hope that more movies like this one are released. Two thumbs up.

Jerry Maguire Review

Another movie that it took me some time to actually watch all the way through. I finally did after much coaxing from my wife, and was pretty impressed with this movie. As most probably know, it is the story of a sports agent who ends up hitting rock bottom and through the power of a dream and some loyal friends, decides to change his life. I guess this movie could pass as a romantic comedy, but it also has many other "just plain drama" moments. Unfortunately, it also has some things that detract from the morals and message (such as pre-marital sex, and quite a bit of foul language). The negative parts are unfortunate, because the acting is top-notch and some of the messages are really redemptive. A few things I liked about this movie were :

1. I won't go into how, but one of the strongest themes throughout the movie was the importance of sincere honesty when relating to others. Acting like nothing is wrong or refusing to say anything that might hurt or offend can actually hinder rather than help growth in life and character.

2. Another thing this movie shows was that sometimes you can't grow until you hit rock bottom. Jerry Maguire did hit rock bottom in this movie, and although he turned to alcohol and depression when unsure of the next steps, it did show that once he reached the end of of his abilities, it was the beginning of his career and life starting to take a turn in the up direction.

3. Many dialog lines that pop culture has picked up. Although I don't go around repeating "Show me the money!" (Cuba Gooding Jr.) or "help me to help you" (Tom Cruise), I admire the delivery and catchiness of some of the lines used in this movie.

All in all, this movie does have a redemptive finish and I found I thought the theme did reinforce some good points about life. Not a movie, in my top 10 list, but yet if you find it on TV (with edited content), I would recommend sitting through it to see what "Jerry Maguire" is all about.