After filling the shoes of Jim Carrey in Evan Almighty, Steve Carell is sort of channeling Tom Hanks in Dan in Real Life, a quirky romantic comedy in which he's a widower with three daughters who falls in love with his brother's girlfriend. Juliette Binoche gets the role that Meg Ryan could have played as the pair struggle to stay apart, even though you know they're going to get together in the end. Steve getting romantic with the très sexy Juliette? He says, "My first thought, Wow, what would she see in me? But I play an ordinary guy that I think a lot of people will relate to. He's just raising his kids and doing the best he can, and then, out of the blue, he finds love." When I tell Steve I was thinking, "Sort of like a 40-year-old virgin," he nods. "Yes, but Dan didn't get his chest waxed." At least it wasn't "My Man": "The director wanted to see if Juliette and I had the right chemistry, so — I'm not kidding — he asked us to sing along to Barbra Streisand's 'Endless Love.' I resisted, but she was game. So we went for it. I don't know who has that tape, but it better not end up on YouTube." "Dan" wasn't the only shy guy: "I was so insecure growing up that it was a struggle for me to ask a girl out on a date. I don't think I actually ever did. I'd become friends with someone I was working with, and somehow we'd end up going out." What?! Steve Carell isn't cool?! Who'd a guessed? "Dan has teenagers who are always on his case because he's just not cool. My daughter is only seven, but she's already there. I bought a pair of new shoes, and this morning I asked her, 'Honey, what do you think?' She gave them a look and said, 'Those are terrible.' I picked them out because I was sure she'd like them."

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