There is a very long tradition of Hollywood producing movies depicting the trials and joys of being part of a (usually white, mostly upper middle-class) family. From Ordinary People to Meet the Parents, there is a surplus of titles in the Family Drama/Comedy genre. This Is Where I Leave You follows the standard formula in terms of structure, but the witty script and strong performances set it apart from the vast majority of easily forgettable, warm and fuzzy installments that have come before it.
Based on the novel of the same name, written by Jonathan Tropper who also wrote the screenplay, This Is Where I Leave You centers on the Altmans and the week following the death of the family patriarch. Adhering to their father’s final wish, the four grown siblings agree to sit shiva with their mother, Hillary (Jane Fonda), despite the chaotic lives each of them is leading. Judd (Jason Bateman) is our protagonist and entry point into the madness that will ensue. He attends his father’s funeral but doesn’t mention, especially to his mother, he recently caught his wife cheating with his boss. The only person who knows is his sister, Wendy (Tina Fey), who is struggling to raise two boys without the help of her inattentive, workaholic husband.
The eldest brother, Paul (Corey Stoll), is having kid troubles of his own, namely that he and his wife, Alice (Kathryn Hahn), are struggling to conceive a baby. Meanwhile, the baby of the Altman family, Phillip (Adam Driver), shows up to the funeral with a girlfriend, Tracy (Connie Britton), who in age is closer to Hillary than to Phillip. She’s also a psychologist, just like Hillary. (Do with that what you will.) Teetering on dysfunction but somehow never completely collapsing, the Altmans suffer through seven days of shiva because when you’re part of a family sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do.
There is nothing revelatory about how This Is Where I Leave You operates within the established model of these types of movies. Director Shawn Levy – the man responsible for a dozen mediocre movies over the last fifteen years – follows a direct-by-numbers approach to making movies that has somehow worked for him so far. With the emotional depth of Michael Bay and the artistic sensibility of a rock, Levy is that annoying manager who tells everyone what to do but doesn’t contribute anything himself. Overplaying the genuinely emotional moments of Tropper’s script, Levy milks every close-up for as long as it takes for the swooning violin to crescendo.
Luckily, Levy’s bland direction doesn’t prevent This Is Where I Leave You from being a very entertaining movie. Like his novel, Tropper’s script is hilarious and features characters whose faults are too authentic to be completely made up. As the four siblings, Bateman, Fey, Stoll and Driver have wonderful chemistry and portray a level of comfort which one another that can only come from years of fights and reconciliation. The script tends to gloss over many of the more colorful but peripheral characters of the novel but this is out of necessity. The relationships that develop and fail (or vice versa) are hurried, but all ring true as realistic portrayals of how humans (over)react to what life throws at them.
The entire cast is superb, but Fey and Driver stand out as delivering some of their finest performances yet. Fey stretches her acting skills further than she has before, playing Wendy as teetering on being a lush and far too nosy for her own good. Driver is the loudest and most animated of the bunch and is the personification of the id. Phillip is equal parts man-child and sociopath but his self-awareness makes him endearing.
This Is Where I Leave You is funny and honest about the emotional tornado that is inherent in almost every family. Anchored by a great cast, it is a movie about family that rises above the more trite fare we’ve been subjected to before.
Grade: B
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