slothhead54 Review of This Is Where I Leave You

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

The laughs in this dysfunctional family comedy feels incredibly familiar

[5/10 · 17 September 2014]

I should preface my comments by saying that the audience that I attended the screening with laughed way, way more than I did. I've also already read four film critic reviews that liked this film much more than I did so maybe I'm a killjoy, but I see so many films and this film really felt like recycled cookie dough to me. Most of the story lines and so many of the jokes are recycled from other family comedies that I've already seen before. The central premise of the film is about the Altmann family. The patriarchal figure of the family has passed away and the four Altmann children are summoned back to their small childhood town to attend their father's funeral. Subsequently, their mother, played by Jane Fonda, tells her four children that their father's dying wish was to practice Shiva, a 7 day mourning period recognized in Judaism. The film then unfolds in a 7 day timeline, which seems a lot longer based on the amount of dramatic points that occur within a 1hr45 minute film. The funeral scene, which happens towards the beginning of the film is the first time all of the Altmann family members appear on screen. The sentiment of this funeral is way more comedic than sentimental that it was hard for me to believe all of these characters just lost a father. It was clear from this scene going forward that the film was aiming for laughs not heart. In my humble opinion you can have laughs in a film when there is heart. When I think of great family dysfunctional comedies I will think of 'Home for the Holidays' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding,' 'Meet the Parents' and 'National Lampoon's Vacation'. In all of those films the family dynamic is very convincing that as an audience viewer you really lend yourself to experience their joys and their sorrows, which is why the laughs are more enjoyable and amplified. In the case of this film, the family dynamic is totally missing. You really never believe for a second that Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Adam Driver, Cory Stoll and Jane Fonda belong to the same family nucleus. All of the characters have this natural retraction from their family members, but honestly it's hard to understand why. The Altmann's have it pretty good. Each character's own personal drama seem to be more important than anything their siblings or their mother could possibly be dealing with and to show that they basically talk over one another in a giant, theatrical fashion. The biggest laughs in the audience came from a child trying to self potty train, the three Altmann brothers getting high in temple and singing (which was a steal in my opinion from Holly Hunter in 'Home for the Holidays) and Jane Fonda's largely augmented breasts and all the jokes that come with them. I'm fairly certain a couple months from now I won't even remember seeing this film, it's just that forgettable.