This Is Where I Leave You

This is one of those movies that is fine and goes down easily enough, but really should have been a heck of a lot better given the talent on display.  This Is Where I Leave You has some funny moments, and also some good dramatic ones.  It's also blessed with a cast that headlines Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda and Rose Byrne, just to name a small few.  Where the problems start is with the tone of the film, and how familiar it all seems.  It's starting to feel like all movies about dysfunctional families coming together for something, usually a wedding or a funeral (in this case, a funeral), are the same.  For all the talent up on the screen, no one rises above the familiarity of it all.

Perhaps the problem lies with the director, Shawn Levy, who is best known for his big family blockbusters like the Night at the Museum films.  I admire him for trying to step outside of his comfort zone (which he has done successfully in the past with films like Date Night and Real Steel), but he seems wrong for this material.  The slapstick humor is a bit too broad, and doesn't gel with the quiet and somber moments of the film.  He films the movie at a surprisingly sluggish pace, lingering a bit too long on certain shots.  I understand that this is intended to be a slow and thoughtful picture about family, but I think he takes the "slow" aspect just a little too literally.  The movie is only about 105 minutes, but it feels a lot longer.  And yet, there are quite a few scenes that do work, and you can see how this could have been something really good.  I think it needed a different director, or maybe one more trip to the editing room.

The main character who brings us into the home of the dysfunction family is Judd Altman (Jason Bateman), a man who is still reeling from the shock of walking in on his wife having sex with his boss (Dax Shepard), a shock jock radio personality.  Not long after this, he gets a phone call from his sister Wendy (Tina Fey) that their father has passed away.  Now he must return home and reunite with his mother (Jane Fonda) and three siblings.  There's a lot of animosity in this family.  The mother made a career by writing a best selling book about raising children that aired a lot of personal family secrets, something that none of her kids have ever been able to forgive her for.  Eldest son Paul (Corey Stoll) has been struggling to have a baby with his wife for years, and is frequently at odds with the youngest child in the Altman family, the undependable and rude Phillip (Adam Driver).  As for Wendy, she has a husband who refuses to acknowledge her or their kids (he's constantly on the phone harboring business deals).  All of these problems, along with Judd's confused feelings about his soon-to-be ex-wife, will all come into play as the family comes together to sit Siva, the dying request of their father.

There are some moments where This Is Where I Leave You feels a little shortchanged in the character department.  The film is based on a novel by Jonathan Tropper (he wrote the screenplay, as well), and there are some characters or relationships that really feel like they should be opened up more, and most likely were in the book.  For example, there's the relationship between Wendy and the man who lives across the street, Horry (Timothy Olyphant).  They dated back when they were teens, but then Horry got in a car accident and suffered brain damage.  He can function well enough to hold down a job, but he forgets things, and has to live at home with his mother for his safety.  The movie makes no secret that Horry and Wendy still have feelings for each other, and that Wendy is giving serious thought of going to him when she becomes frustrated by the lack of attention she gets from her husband.  But, the movie keeps this subplot on the back burner the entire time, and never really goes in depth with their relationship.  We know they like each other, but that's about all we do know about them.  I get the feeling that this is one of many aspects about the film received more detail in the novel, but get glossed over here.

Naturally, the cast is splendid, and certainly can't be blamed.  They have fantastic chemistry together, especially Bateman and Fey.  Corey Stoll and Adam Driver are also both fantastic as the eldest and youngest brothers in the family, as are the female supporting characters, such as Rose Byrne as a sweet woman from Judd's past.  Everybody up on the screen is giving it their all.  The problem lies with the script, which loves "shocking" family secrets that seem kind of tired and cliched, as well as overused slapstick like the brothers getting into all-out wrestling matches on the front lawn, or Wendy's young boy having a running gag about the training potty that he always carries around with him.  For all the good will that the cast creates, the movie just feels far too familiar.  These are people who know they are in a movie, and do things that is expected of them.  These people are likable enough (thanks mostly to the performances), but there's just nothing spontaneous about them.

And then there's Shawn Levy.  I know I touched on it a little bit already, but his directing style really does kill the momentum at times.  The first time Horry and Wendy meet each other at the funeral, the camera lingers on them, letting us know that they have a past together and there are feelings between them.  And then it just keeps on lingering, far longer than it should.  It's not until long after we've gotten the message that the movie finally decides to move on.  There are lots of little moments that just feel off.  At the very least, Levy does know how to get good performances out of his actors, and he has them play off of each other at every opportunity.  But the pacing really slows things down a lot more than it should be.

This Is Where I Leave You really should have been more enjoyable, if not a home run.  I just couldn't get over the off-putting directing style, and the fact that the screenplay felt assembled, not written out of experience or from the heart.  This is one of those movies you wish you could just turn around and remake right away.  Keep the cast, but uproot the director, and maybe freshen up the screenplay a little.  All the elements are here, but they fail to come together somehow.

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