This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

Thanks for the memories!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

A family are forced to spend a week together to honor their deceased father.I found this on Blu-ray in Pound Land so I was not expecting much.I was very pleasantly surprised. The siblings squabble and barb to great comedic affect. The characters were engaging and quite often charming. There is a lot of great talent here. I was most surprised by Tina Fey who so great that I now struggle to disengage her performance from her real life.Now this film probably does tug at one too many heart strings and near the end it does get a bit "Dawson's Creek" but I didn't mind for a minute.This is not laugh-out-loud but is a great, simple story; heart warming, humorous and very enjoyable.

OK, I love family dramas. In General. This had about four things too many going on which is a common disease in this kind of film but there was also some great laughs. He finds a couple of joints in his father's sport coat. Dad was a stoner? No, it was probably medicinal. It always is."Classic. I remember in high school finding joints of the best Thai weed when I tried on my older brother's sport coat at his house in Hawaii. Classic. I was so rooting for a miscarriage. I honestly thing the world would be a better place if there were a lot more of those and a lot fewer accidental pregnancies, but I guess that I'm just a romantic at heart.

'This Is Where I Leave You' is a good mix of funny moments and dramatic moments of reflection. It's basically the story of four siblings - Judd (Bateman), Wendy (Fey), Phillip (Driver) & Paul (Stoll) - and how they, along with their mum (Fonda), deal with their father's death. There's lots of squabbling and jibes, but also some nice scenes with some emotional depth.This film is slightly better than 'Date Night', Levy's similar film from a few years ago with Fey. It's not too long, is quite well paced and has a good soundtrack. My main gripe is that - since I can relate! - there wasn't a more fleshed-out character for Paul, the big brother. I think Phillip comes off being the most interesting, but it's enjoyable seeing how they all interact with each other & their sibling's partners. No real conclusion, but there is a few unnecessary spanners thrown in the works at the end.The best bits are when they all deal with the loss with some levity, especially aided by "Boner" the Rabbi (Schwartz), some of Fey's quips and the toilet-training kid. Byrne's good as Bateman's love interest, but since there's so many cast members, doesn't get enough screen time, along with Fonda.

Yes Jason Bateman plays the same kind of guy in most of his work, and it may even be close to his real personality. But either way, there is something likable about that guy. I don't if it's acting or what, but he's great. Without him, I would not have watched this.Regarding the Jewish aspect. They say up front that the mom is not Jewish (meaning I assume that she didn't even convert), and the dad is an atheist.So these people are secular, born to a non-Jewish woman, but with apparently some loose "Reform" Jewish identity. Let's not say that they are typical Jews. Even most of the actors were non-Jewish. Having said that, it presents a horrible family and makes them seem Jewish. So be prepared for that if it's bothersome.But there's more to that. Clearly these people are living Godless lives and never fully understand the relationship between that fact, and their disappointments. (That is probably true for the film makers, or people in Hollywood in general) Yet, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the writer used the vehicle of religious ritual (sitting together for a week to mourn a loved one)as a means toward some spiritual or moral reckoning, and that seems to be a pro-religion statement.The Bateman character lacks "alpha" qualities. That's probably why his wife went with an alpha male, and why he never really lived his life to the fullest. They don't identify this by name, but it's really one of the core themes affecting millions of men around the globe. Beta males live in the shadow of alphas.The house and town looked lovely. Why does everyone talk about who "got out?" I guess elitist types view their hometowns as provincial and silly.Tina Fey was good. She was down-to-earth and didn't ham it up. Forget the device of having a kid sitting on a portable toilet. That's such a cheap way to get a laugh. Wouldn't the kid need toilet paper anyways? That whole story line cheapened the experience.I realize that we are living in a "progressive" age, but I don't know if audiences want to see same-sex kissing, etc. I guess it will become more and more accepted. If you want to imply that same sex people are together, you could just show them gazing into each other's eyes. I guess the whole movement is about making it identical to the straight life. So showing actual gay bed scenes will be next, if it's not already happening.With this many characters and only so much time, it's hard to establish back stories. I think they did a reasonably decent job of that. Also, as others have said, they walked that fine line between slapstick and drama well.