This Is Where I Leave You (***)
Directed by: Shawn Levy
Starring: Jason Bateman,
Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton,
Timothy Olyphant, Abigail Spencer, Dax Shepard, Jane Fonda, Aaron Lazar, Ben
Schwartz, Debra Monk
Seen: October 18th 2014
*** Out of ****
This Is Where I Leave You is a comedy drama that does something
interesting for a comedy drama in this day and age, it doesn’t try to gross out
the viewer like so many movies do and it also does not go too far off the
reservation in terms of weird and uncomfortable story elements (see Death at a
Funeral, for this, both of them…). Now the story does get uncomfortable, but
the movie is relatively straightforward and well written. The drama and the
comedy elements intertwine well and are used with good balance, and the movie
is heartfelt, amusing, and funny, all in one.
This is Where I Leave You starts slap bang with a motivation for
the title of the movie. It is not the main motivation, but until you discover it,
this one does just fine. Judd (Bateman) walks in on his wife Quinn (Spencer) in
bed with his boss Wade (Shepard). He calmly sits down and asks them how long
it’s been going on; she says once while Wade answers a year. He walks out and
refuses to look back. Some short time later his sister Wendy (Fey) calls,
informing Judd that their father has died, and this is the true This is Where I
Leave You, dad leaving the family.
They head home, where their mother Hillary (Fonda), Judd, Wendy
and her workaholic husband Barry (Lazar), their no-fun oldest brother Paul
(Stoll) and his wife Annie (Hahn) attend the funeral with their irresponsible
younger brother Phillip (Driver) arriving fashionably and ostentatiously late.
After the funeral, with the reception at home, Hillary informs the children
that she wants them to sit shiva – a Jewish tradition where they must stay
together for a whole week, in honour of their father. They agree, and the
family rekindle half-lost friendships and deal with a few issues. The family’s
childhood friend Charles (Schwartz), now a rabbi, leads the shiva, but cannot
seem to shake a very unfortunate nickname. Judd runs into Penny (Byrne), who
used to have a crush on him, and who is now just slightly off-kilter; Wendy
crosses paths with her high school boyfriend Horry (Olyphant), who stays with
his mom for good reason; Paul and Annie are trying for a baby so desperately
that Annie goes to inappropriate lengths; and Paul wants to figure out how to
run their dad’s sporting goods store while Hillary must cope with the loss of
her husband.
All of this sets up a pretty entertaining story of mistaken intent
and confusing revelation with all the actors giving endearing performances.
Special mention goes out to Jason Bateman and Tina Fey for their portrayal of
the two siblings who are perhaps closest in this tragedy, with some rather
beautiful scenes shared. The comedy is
more from clever writing and some good interaction between the characters than
the actors themselves, but the execution is, more often than not, down to great
comedic timing by the actors. Bateman and Fey are comedy veterans, and Jane
Fonda also has some sterling moments. This is Where I Leave You is a worthwhile
little movie, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and wouldn’t dissuade anyone from
seeing it.
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