Judging by the recently-released trailer, "Dan in Real Life" is less an uproarious romp than a gentle, family-centered tale with some romance (man falls for brother’s girlfriend) and a bit of slapstick (same man falls from roof). Although Steve Carell, who plays the lead, clearly has the ability to make audiences shriek with laughter - as the chest-waxing scene in The 40-Year-Old Virgin demonstrated – he might be even better suited to this type of naturalistic comedy.

It seems to mesh with his opinion that, as he says regarding the upcoming film adaptation of the television series Get Smart in a recent New York Times interview, "comedies work better when the characters don’t think they’re in a comedy."

Co-star Juliet Binoche said of Carell, "It’s about making the situation real. (Steve) really wanted that."