Funny Video jewish Man Wants People at His Funeral to Say Hes Moving
Jason Bateman
I'm no movie critic or film analyst but i do believe Jason Bateman is one of the best actors going around today. His ability to balance the serious and the comedic is genius level. The movie itself was good. I don't normally watch these types of movies but with COVID i think I've watched ever bloody movie ever made and this one was next cab off the rank. I'm glad i watched it.
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TIME AFTER TIME
Warning: Spoilers
The family gathers for a funeral and spend time together after the death of their father not in August Osage County. The film centers around Judd (Jason Bateman) the second oldest son and the most stable in the group. Recently he has split up with his wife (Abigail Spencer) when he caught her in bed with his boss (Dax Shepard). His sister Wendy (Tina Fey) is his confidant, although secrets burn inside of her. She has her own issues.
Paul (Corey Stoll) is the oldest. He believes the family business should go to him. His wife Alice (Kathryn Hahn) was Judd's girlfriend for 6 months before he met Quinn.
Phillip (Adam Driver) is the baby in the group. He hasn't grown up and brings his much older girlfriend Tracy (Connie Britton) who is also his analyst.
Mom (Jane Fonda) Loves to talk about her dead husband's sexual ability and shows off her cleavage to the dismay of her family. She has also written a book "Cradle to All" based on the personal lives of her children.
The film is a light situation comedy with family drama and secrets but without the intensity. On some level it feels like a romantic comedy. The family comes together to form new bonds and more understanding relationships, even those they know are doomed for failure.
Parental Guide: F-bomb. Brief sex scene. Implied sex. Near sex. Male rear nudity. Sex talk. Sex heard over a speaker.
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Tender, funny, sweet, silly and surprisingly wise.
Looking at the starry cast of This Is Where I Leave You, it's easy to get excited about the film. But that excitement might easily fade away when you realise that the director at the helm of this family dramedy is Shawn Levy, best-known for resolutely mediocre films like Night At The Museum and The Internship. Surprisingly, however, Levy has crafted something witty, wise and quite wonderful from Jonathan Tropper's screenplay (adapted from the latter's own best-selling novel). Its narrative might struggle a little at points, and some characters fail to really leap off the screen the way they're clearly meant to. But This Is Where I Leave You is without a doubt Levy's most engaging, full-bodied effort yet: a rich, bitter, quirky film about love and family that teeters along the thin, broken lines dividing life and death, and comedy and tragedy.
Judd Altman (Bateman) is having the worst year of his life. He's just discovered that his wife Quinn (Spencer) is having an affair with his scumbag radio-host boss (Shepard). The last thing he can handle is the death of a family member. But home he must go in the wake of his father's demise. Once there, Judd and his siblings - driven Wendy (Fey), stern Paul (Stoll), and quirky Phillip (Driver) - must abide by their father's dying wishes, as relayed by their mom Hilary (Fonda): they are to sit shiva for seven days, a week in which secrets are revealed, tensions run high, and love sneaks through amidst all the lies and loss.
It's a situation rich with potential, one that could easily have taken the path of high melodrama or descended into outright buffoonery. Levy and Tropper go for something in-between. And so, in a film in which Judd struggles desperately to mourn his father after the implosion of his marriage, the sexual escapades of Paul and his baby-hungry wife Annie (Hahn) are telecast to the entire house via a baby monitor. Wendy re-connects with Horry (Olyphant), the brain-damaged childhood sweetheart she left behind for a loveless marriage to Barry (Lazar). Her brothers sneak off and get high during a service at the synagogue. The final result is a tangle of black humour and bittersweet tragedy, woven into a tapestry of joy and misery that's remarkably close to life itself.
What keeps the film's servings of tragedy and comedy from tipping into farce are its endearingly real characters. It's easy to see the wealth of love and resentment that binds the Altman family together. The siblings argue to the point of bloodshed over who will take over their dad's sporting goods shop, and they tease one another with the poker-sharp memories of years of enforced familiarity. But they also let their guards down around one another: Judd chats out his troubles with his sister Wendy, perched atop a roof; the siblings complain about the loss of privacy stemming from their mom's best-selling book about their childhoods, but still find themselves turning to her in moments of deepest grief. "You're idiots," Wendy declares at one point to her brothers, "But you're my idiots" - a sentiment that most would agree applies particularly well to one's siblings.
Even the supporting characters are mostly well-served by the script, whether it's widowed next-door neighbour Linda (Monk), mother of Horry and keeper of a secret that will shock the Altman children when it's revealed; or Phillip's new fiancée Tracy (Britton), a sexy, intelligent therapist who knows just what a big mistake she's made in falling for the Altman family screw-up. It's particularly intriguing that Quinn isn't written off simply as a degenerate whore, but someone whose mistakes - though inexcusable - are rooted in as much heartbreak and sadness as she's causing Judd with her infidelity.
Unfortunately, not every character in This Is Where I Leave You rings quite so truly. While Judd freaks out about Quinn, especially when she flings a bombshell at him when she turns up at the Altman home, he also draws closer to Penny (Byrne) - the sweet, kooky girl who's held a torch for him since high school. In a film filled with so many quirky-but-realistic characters, each of whom could easily have taken the lead, Penny is an odd cardboard cutout of a dream girl. In effect, she bounces around and chirps supposedly insightful but painfully awkward things like, "I've always seen you, Judd Altman". Poor Byrne tries her best, and has a sweet chemistry with Bateman, but her character feels less like a genuine romantic option than the wishful thinking of a writer who's spent considerably more time fleshing out his other characters.
In news surprising to no one, Levy's ensemble cast is an absolute joy to watch in action. Bateman anchors the entire film with one of his most sensitive performances yet, but everyone around him gets a chance to shine. Fey, better known as a comedian, mines Wendy's troubled relationship with Horry for genuine emotional trauma, while Stoll and Driver round out the Altman quartet with steady, appealing turns as the eldest and youngest brothers who just can't get along. Fonda is luminous, carrying off the comedy - and her prosthetic breasts - with remarkable grace, while creating a picture of a tough, sexually progressive woman with plenty of depth and love for her children.
Like the fractured, dysfunctional family at its heart, This Is Where I Leave You isn't perfect. It can be insular at times, and its characters occasionally speak in perfectly tart soundbites that don't quite ring true. But Levy's film is also a tender, silly, deep, smart and ridiculous look at a family in mourning. It finds the hidden joys and awkward sadnesses in a group of people who sometimes love more than they like one another. And it serves as a potent reminder that life - happiness, tragedy, and everything in between - keeps happening, often when we least want it to.
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Totally under-rated
While many have claimed this title does not offer much that the others of this particular genre do, I have to disagree. This is a heartwarming story with genuine dialog between characters. Some of these conversations and interactions I have experienced firsthand. The cinematography captures the specific details that both add to the dialog and allow you to pick up more the second time around. The acting is very believable albeit a little over emphasized for comedy at times. The first time I saw this I had wished they rewrote a few of the lines, but after my second watch they seem fitting for the character and what they were going through at the time. I really did not like Phillip, and now I have come to realize he is that juvenile person frequently found in families. I approached this film without any prior knowledge of it and was pleasantly surprised. I concede it was not amazing, and given the cast list may spark high expectations for some, but going into any movie that way will leave you disappointed.
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Subtract at least one sibling please
Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) is a radio producer who finds his wife Quinn (Abigail Spencer) in bed with his boss (Dax Shepard) and about to divorce her. His father passes away and his final wish is for his family to hold shiva even though they're not religious. The family is forced to spend 7 days together. His sister Wendy (Tina Fey) is married with a kid but she still loves Horry Callen (Timothy Olyphant) who got a brain injury when they were young. His mother Hillary (Jane Fonda) got her boobs done and has no boundaries. She is a famous therapist who wrote an in-depth book about her children's sex lives. His irresponsible brother Phillip (Adam Driver) shows up with his psychiatrist fiancée Tracy Sullivan (Connie Britton). His older brother Paul (Corey Stoll) is married to Judd's first girlfriend Annie (Kathryn Hahn) and they can't seem to conceive. Judd reconnects with Penny Moore (Rose Byrne) who has always held a torch for him. Then Quinn shows up with news that she's pregnant with his child.
Honestly, I've condense the interconnection of the characters as much as possible. This is so full that there isn't a spare moment of breather. There are great comedic talents here but everybody is stepping on each other's feet. Everybody is perfectly likable. It may be that there is so much talent in the cast. Everybody is given something to do or be which ends up as being too much. Just when things need to wrap up, the movie adds one more thing.
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Genius.
I can't actually understand why so many people rate this movie so low. It has everything. Just, everything.
It starts light, introducing the characters, it starts building storyline, gradually the humor and comedy between the characters becomes more and more fluent.
After the build-up and introduction, there is the storyline. And the storyline just unfolds so brilliantly. I love how every character has it's own unique differences, it's like a family not made for each other, but completely lost without each other.
The ending is just undeniably great, it's one of the better movies I have seen in a long time. Jason Bateman by the way, was born for this role. The movie would have been one big flop if that man wasn't in it. Jason Bateman just makes everything seem a little better.
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a good and meaningful comedy for grown ups
This film was actually funny, but not in a slap-sticky juvenile way. It was a comedy for grown ups in that it dealt with themes that are applicable to 30 and 40-somethings, such as death of a parent, fertility, running a business, divorce, etc., but it was not a heavy film in that it was not a dark comedy. The father who died as the premise for it was never presented to the audience, which keeps his passing from being a sad event and allows for the levity at his funeral to be appreciated. The film generally seems to focus the most of Bateman's character and his relationships with others, but he carries that role well. In fact, I thought this performance was one of his finest in quite some time. Tina Fey was great in it too. I thought she was just a comedian, but she can act too! (Is there noting she can't do?) Overall, this film is worth seeing and is a powerful yet lighthearted journey in the interplay between siblings and the event that all 30 & 40 somethings will face at some point: the loss of a parent. If this film doesn't get you thinking about your relationship with your family members, then nothing will. Not to worry, the family in this film has enough dysfunction to make you feel better about your own.
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Not Boring because of the Chemistry between the actors.
Not much to tell about this movie. Really.
The premise, you've seen it a million times. The members of a family (I let you to judge if it is unconventional or not) are get together in their hometown because of a funeral.
Movies like this could be comedies, dramas, even thrillers. Most of the times though, is about reconciliation between the members of the family, and re-ignition of old flames from their childhood.
This is most definitely a comedy. There are some dilemmas to deal with, and a few emotional surprises but, although strong, are presented in a fun way.
And there is a lot of fun in this movies, mainly because of the chemistry of some experienced TV actors who can play roles like these in their sleep. Despite some forced clichés the movie is easy to watch. Not boring at all.
Jane Fonda looks surprisingly good for her 77 years (she was also in The Newsroom recently). Maybe there is message there for a healthy way of living for the rest of us! Overall: Not Boring. Starts well and continues like that until the very end. Check it out.
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Leaves You Wanting More...
Warning: Spoilers
I was looking at director Shawn Levy's filmography- "Reel Steel", the "Night at the Museum" films, etc... - and this movie doesn't quite fit in-?? No matter. I just watched this film off HBO GO over the weekend, and it's a winner! It's one of those family dramedies, not unlike "Terms of Endearment"- that kinda sucks you in, and by the end, you don't want it to end.
Jason Bateman is the head of the ensemble, including (as his siblings- Tina Fey, Corey Stoll, as well as future "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" star, Adam Driver), with their mother a best-selling psychologist played by Jane Fonda. And is it me, or YOWL!- does she look good at age 70 or whatever she is now-?? LOL Well anyway, Bateman's character finds out his wife is cheating with his boss (Dax Shepard), and the next day finds out his dad has passed away, and the whole clan unites at mom Fonda's house- leading to ensuing chaos, including a sh*t-yielding nephew! LOL
Bateman is great in exactly this kinda role- one of the straight man set among a sea of insanity. He's just a great reactionary comedic actor, as well as does some of his best serio-dramatic work yet in this film. Timothy Olyphant also stars as the next door neighbor who once had a little fling with Fey's character, who is re-thinking her own marriage. And the delectable Connie Britton also co-stars as the older woman shrink in a fling with Driver's character.
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Brilliant and Visceral
What a great film.
Ignore previous reviews. How people can ignore the realities of psychotic family behavior is beyond me. This film smartly peels the layers and transparently reveals all about people running astray with their lives and emotions. It captures how families really are or maybe should be. Americans are all too good at bottling and hiding their real feelings and the result is vapid soullessness. Not with this film. It displays like European honesty ensuring every word drips viscerally from their tongues until the effects are felt. So reassuring in a country gone soft and dull. Amazing performances, sharply written and wildly funny, this film will pull tears, smiles and laughs.
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I liked it ...
This is my first review on IMDb ever ... I am not even an amateur critic.
The movie is almost completely dialogue. If you want an action flick or YA humour look elsewhere.
Everyone did a great job of creating a unique character. And the characters interacted in a variety of interesting ways. And it was all realistic though exaggerated as all movies are.
As always I loved Tina Fey, and found Jane Fonda interesting in her odd but very good acting technique and presentation.
It was, in a word, poignant.
I recommend it.
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a decent drama and a bad comedy, mixed with tired formula
This Is Where I Leave You has a game cast with a good many people who have shown so much talent and excellent, memorable characters over time, and it has a good *dramatic* script in terms of the main core conflict. The main story is about Jason Bateman's character who finds at the start of the story a) his wife has been cheating on him with his boss/d***-head shock-jock boss for a year, and b) his father has just died. So, he has to return to his home-town, amid his dysfunctional family picnic (aka the seven day 'Shiva' ritual for Jews where you sit around, eat, talk, reminisce, and uh, sit some more).
Over the course of this story Bateman's character Judd will come to terms with things in his family, but more-so with his wife's infidelity (and then a pregnancy, aye) and then a possible budding relationship with a girl he used to know (Rose Byrne). Decisions decisions! The problem is, and it's major, is that This is Where I Leave You is also a completely lackluster comedy by a hack director (Shawn Levy, who didn't mess up too bad with Date Night but has otherwise had a sucky career in Hollywood), and a stripped-down adapted script.
From what I've been told the book was good, really good, excellent even. But of course tone is always the thing, and what gets lost in an adaptation like this is how a character like Judd views these events in first person and with more details about these people than what is crammed into this. This is not to say the material would suit it longer - heaven forbid this was a TV show - but everyone is drawn so cartoonishly, so much like sitcom types. Only Bateman and maybe, arguably, sorta, Fonda's matriarch have more than a dimension.
Which, when you have actors like Tina Fey (she plays kinda helpful, kinda a dope) and Courtney Stoll (so good on House of Cards, here reduced to 'I'm frustrated and angry and RAWR!) and then Adam Driver. He's actually not very good at all, though his character is mostly reduced to the loud-mouth annoying caricature who, frankly, doesn't seem realistic at all, like he's drawn out of parts of a sarcastic side of a brain with only the slivers of any decency thrown in there. Of course that's comic relief talking, but the comedy just falls flat, or only a line or two work.
'Situations' also keep happening as well - could Bateman help out his (I'm not kidding) sister-in-law to procreate? Or what about mom's Big New Breasts? Or what about smoking weed at the synagogue? A lot of these things, and even little character moments, I could see being workable, funny, meaningful in a book. Under Levy's direction, and somehow through Tropper's own script chopping up the narrative, it's kind of a mess. It's nice to see the dramatic side workable and have some lasting power during the film, and Bateman is able to find a solid character to work through in that, but it's not enough to make it a good movie. In a strange coincidence just a couple of weeks after this movie would come out, also by Warner brothers, The Judge would appear in theaters and have a similar premise and with less characters (that's another thing, TOO many characters, TOO much quirk) fared better.
Bottom line though, if I'm going to watch Jason Bateman surrounded by a family that is all over the place and half the time genuine and the other time totally plastic and dumb, two words instead: Arrested Development. More to the point, an Arrested Development Movie at this point would be nice, but I digress. 5.5/10
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Altman Family Values
The Altman family patriarch has died and this most secular of Jews desired that the family come together and sit Shiva. For those of you gentiles out there a Shiva is a Jewish wake, but it happens after the funeral which is done as quickly as possible. So his children who include Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Corey Stoll and Adam Driver gather at the family home where Jane Fonda their mother still lives. Fonda insists that these very secular kids observe the custom as a matter of respect for their dad.
Father had a sporting goods business he ran and he made some very specific bequests in his will about the division of the business. That is only one bone of contention. In fact me telling any more will ruin the story. I will say this though that after a lot of revelations about the children and their lives, Fonda provides the biggest revelation of all at the end and kind of brings them all to an understanding.
This Is Where I Leave You is one of those films short on plot, but long and deep in character development. Jason Bateman as per his status as the lead is the sibling who never really went anywhere, the one with the most ability, but the one who always played it safe. His character is the most fully formed, the other siblings have their moments, but in the end function as reflections of sides of Bateman.
No one is all warm and fuzzy as This Is Where I Leave You ends. But they all come away with a better understanding of themselves and the family dynamic.
And isn't that what families are all about?
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Lighter version of Oscar-bait films
It took me ages to watch this. Having seen 'August: Osage County' fairly recently, I can confirm that 'This is Where I Leave You' is what that one was trying to do.
I would say that this was meant to be a serious drama that didn't take itself too seriously. In that respect, it's probably a good compromise for two people if one wants to watch an Oscar-bait type film and the other hates them with a passion. It's a drama that won't bore you to tears.
Having said that, there are a lot of things wrong with it. For every funny joke, there are some fairly tame or childish ones. As others have pointed out, nothing really gets resolved. One storyline in particular (Tina Fey's) was an utter waste of time. I was expecting certain people to have an affair and certain people to split up and so on and yet nothing! Literally!
I don't particularly like Rose Byrne especially since she seems to have succumbed to anorexia, but I imagine a lot of people would agree that there was zero chemistry between her and Jason Bateman. Not only that but her character had almost no back-story. There was no reason for her and Bateman's character to be attracted to each other and they spent almost no time together so the way things unfolded between them made no sense.
Yet it was entertaining and funny enough for me to keep watching, not feel bored and generally be happy that I'd watched it.
7/10
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Netflix got me here in quarantine
I liked the movie because right now, life feels so hard and there goes this guy, life happens and gets in his way, if he could survive, sure I will too.
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Enjoyable, though exposing the difficulty of adaptation
From the novel by Jonathan Tropper, This is Where I leave You is the story of how a dysfunctional family gets together for a week to conduct the Jewish ritual of sitting Shiva for seven days after the passing of their father, for whom this was his dying wish. Judd, played by Jason Bateman, is fresh off the shocking revelation that his wife has been cheating on him with his boss, while his 3 siblings are wonderful mess of their own problems. The mother, played by Jane Fonda, is an over sharing woman who published a book over 25 years earlier about their childhoods and their family secrets. For her, nothing is secret but for the adult children, the book stands as an obvious lasting scar.
After having read all of Jonathan Tropper's novels, it is hard to avoid the thought that they seem to have been written for the screen. His dialog, his wisdom, his humor and outrageous situations have always seemed destined to be made into films. When I saw that This is Where I Leave You was to become a film, I knew that if nothing else, it would reflect many of the same elements that make his fiction so much fun.
What I guess I didn't count on was the fact that while this is a very solid movie, it still exposes the difficulty of adaptation. Much of the wisdom and humor of the book must be conveyed in a series of one on one conversations between characters, which, after a while start to feel a little exhausting. Tropper, who did the screenplay himself, chose to stay away from doing flashbacks to convey back story, hoping to work the relevant information into the plot. It is not a bad choice, but it does deprive the audience of some of the information that we would like to know: like what exactly happened to neighbor/semi-adopted child Horry that caused him to be brain damaged? It is referenced but never fully explained, which would seem important because of the apparent role the Tina Fey character had in it. I can only think that maybe some bit of dialog somewhere was cut out of the final edit. The bit at the beginning with the birthday cake was underplayed in comparison to what happened in the book—probably not a terrible choice, though I might have enjoyed seeing the whole sequence end with something more explosive.
Still, This Is Where I Leave You had some great moments and the story and performances carried the day. Jason Bateman as Judd is a great everyman; Adam Driver wins an MVP for his role as the goof-up brother, Phillip; Corey Stoll as Paul, the brother who holds down the fort for the others yet has his manhood challenged at every turn; Kathryn Hahn as Judd's Ex and Paul's Current (awkward!) ; Jane Fonda is convincing as the overbearing mother; Tina Fey as the alcoholic sister; Rose Byrne as Judd's hometown love interest, Penny Moore and Connie Britton as the goof-up brother's older woman--all perform the admirable job of making this rather dark comedy enjoyable.
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Just as expected
I think this is an enjoyable movie as long as you know what you're getting into. The main actors of Jason Bateman and Tina Fey should tip you off that this won't be troubling the scorecards at the Oscars. Jason Bateman is an enjoyable actor to watch. I concede, he plays the same sort of character each time but he brings a laugh and a smile to my face. The plot line is admittedly fairly paper thin to get all of these characters together, but there's enough laughs and contrived family moments to be a fairly decent bit of nonsense to watch. A couple of good exchanges revolving around Bateman/Fey/Fonda were very funny. All in all, just a fairly decent comedy that I enjoyed for what it was but it won't be sticking with me for years to come.
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Incredibly funny and emotional
It's an amazing movie filled with love and incredible moments of life.Its about love for your family,a crazy family or a dysfunctional one,one might say but though they've drifted apart a bit they still love each other.You will laugh,cry,feel annoyed at times but most importantly love this movie.You will be laughing at the hilarious scenes and feeling incredibly emotional at times. At first I thought it would just be another movie to follow in the lines of others but it was't. It's fresh,something new and heartwarming. If you're looking for something with a mix of drama,comedy and love,then this is your stop. You won't be disappointed. It's something that I'd want to watch more than once and actually feel like it was a great waste of my time. It's worth it!
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A Trash Bin is Where to Leave This Film.
Warning: Spoilers
This Is Where I Left You (2014): Dir: Shawn Levy / Cast: Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver, Corey Stoll: A pathetic ensemble comedy about endearing family relationships that are anything but endearing here. Jane Fonda plays a widow whose husband passes away before the film's opening. Her three sons and daughter arrive and everything works at making everyone of them look like people that nobody would desire to spend time with. Fonda is constantly rushing about wearing a robe that conceals everything except for her boob job. Corey Stoll plays oldest son who worked at the family business and cannot get his wife pregnant. Jason Bateman is the one performance given any real character. He arrives home to find his wife in the sack with his co-worker. He will later learn that she is pregnant. He also hooks up with an ex-flame ice skater and the relationship has all the passion of cracking your skull on the ice. Adam Driver plays the idiotic youngest son who drives fast and hits on every woman within reach. He is currently screwing his female therapist. Tina Fey plays the lone sister whose childhood sweetheart has brain damage. She also hasn't the ability to shut her yap and must blab about her brother's divorce. None of these characters are likable. There is even a kid who runs about with a potty and takes a sh*t wherever he seems fit. Director Shawn Levy had success with films such as Date Night and Just Married. Here he creates a film that tries to address the bonds and trials of family. The result is a film that is best left in the potty that the kid lugs about. That is the best time for him to take a sh*t. Score: 2 ½ / 10
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Be Warned
Warning: Spoilers
The title says it all, telling to you evacuate the theater right after the credits because you are about to pummeled by one of the worst pieces of writing and acting ever put together in a Hollywood release. The question is why and how did this ever come to happen? We have after all Jason Bateman and Jane Fonda here, two terrific performers. One an icon who can just show up and light up the screen, and Bateman, a very likable actor who could have been great here, but he falls victim to the mess that permeates every minute of this nightmare. It's not funny, dramatic, or anything else but truly awful because all we get are one stupid remark after another, one loud display of bad acting after another, and what has to be one horrible turn by an actor who should not be allowed to show up in another film after this: Adam Driver, more on him later.
A family goes back home to honor their father after his passing. The matriarch, Jane Fonda pretty much finds an opportunity to put them all under the same roof for about a week, and we expect this will result in some matters being resolved, some sort of catharsis to originate from these people confronting each other and getting rid of their demons, and they have plenty to resolve, but it's the presentation and execution of these problems that is the problem. It's hard to like anyone here. Fonda can't find her footing, and all she has to play with are her new and improved breasts. Soon, we are tired of all the jokes, and the best she can say about her husband is that he was gifted. This is just the beginning of one crass joke after another. With the exception of a surprising turn by a celebrity that I can't usually stand and manages to gather some dignity and actually do some good acting here, everyone is awful. Tina Fey somehow delivers her lines as if she was stepping in from another movie and directed by someone who has been behind a camera and knows how to tell a story. She is the steady and logical mind here, reminding them of who they really are, and to stop deluding themselves with silly pretensions.
We have the cheating wife, the stressed husband who might never be able to father a child under the pressure of his loving wife, who has no problems finding a sperm donor with the help another family member. We have the immature sibling, who can't make a move without reminding them or any of us in the audience what a truly horrible human being he is. Either Driver is the best actor around because after this is I don't think anyone is going to be able to see him in any other light. We certainly can't understand why anyone would put up with a person like him ever, in any situation. In the film he has managed to seduce a woman with a PhD, but we wonder what in the world she has seen in him because Driver's acting is so one-dimensional that we don't see him as having any charm whatsoever. He certainly doesn't have the looks, or anything in the way he delivers his lines. He's barely tolerable when he is on the screen. He makes everybody else look even worse than they already are.
It's certainly a pity because Stoll has managed to shine in previous films, both dramas and comedies with his simple and dry approach. Here he looks lost and like a victim. Maybe he was just reacting to the horrible dialog. Things don't improve in the end. In fact the best of surprises just feels like a last minute desperate attempt to make us feel like we are watching a daring, independent film, but it's just as futile as anything that has been presented before. The jokes are as bad and as infantile as anything we saw in "Bad Neighbors". How many times can we see that cute child play with his newly discovered ability to go to the bathroom? Oh, and let me count the way that everyone talks about Ms. Fonda's improved physique, which at 70+ manages to look terrific, but the joke here is if anything offensive. We can also wonder if the producers of "Porky" got in their two cents, too because I'll never be able to look at a rabbi again without thinking middle school mentality. It's pretty sad to see grown men playing that joke and other adults actually pretending they like it.
Finally, I kept thinking that dysfunctional families have given us plenty to laugh at, laugh with, cry with, and have managed to go from low brow comedy to the heights of Oscar winning material. I kept looking back with more respect than ever at the way Shirley McLaine and Jack Nicholson did so much wonderful work in "Terms of Endearment". With the superb support of Winger, De Vitto, and the rest of a cast that managed to show real life situations, sometimes in broad strokes, pushing the limits, but never failing to deliver the message that we are flawed, but that as long as we care, there is room for redemption and a better future. In "Terms", even the strength of that love is enough to give us a hint that everything might just be all right. Here we never get the feeling that anyone in this family had anything but revulsion for each other, and we just wonder what the rest of the neighborhood felt when they saw what was going on under that roof.
Yes, maybe people should just leave before even going in, and maybe the message is for the actors who should take their cues and start looking more carefully at the kind of material they decide to try next time.
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Torturous to Watch
Another movie in a long line of movies that believe it's entertaining and humorous to present it's characters as being completely unfiltered, and who came across to me extremely vile and despicable. It seemed the characters were just trying to outdo each other as to who could be the most mean spirited, lewd, crude, and outrageous.
The story revolves around the Altman family patriarch dying, and the remainder of the family being summoned by the Altman matriarch (Jane Fonda) to attend the funeral. Additionally, she informs them that her late husband requested that they all sit shiva for seven days, which in Jewish tradition has the family remaining together in mourning and greeting any family and friends who wish to visit to express their condolences.
For me, watching this repugnant cast of characters for seven days seemed like seven years and became incredibly torturous to continue. I wanted to write this review so I stuck with it to the end. but otherwise I would have done something I almost never do and just walk away and not finish it.
Maybe there are those that like this "humor", but I would say carefully heed the advice of those reviewers on this site that have issued warnings. To me, it became cringe inducing and repulsive, and I couldn't wait till it ended.
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An unfocused mess
This Is Where I Leave You is a film that seems to be very 'busy' all the time but at the same time is also a film that never really goes anywhere and does very little that's actually interesting.
Essentially, we have a bunch of estranged siblings who had little contact with each other prior to their father's death and it is their father's death that brings them together. At the behest of their father the family are forced to spend a week together taking part in a form of Jewish mourning known as Shiva whereby the family are forbidden from leaving the area or taking public transport (amongst other things). This sets out the framework for the film, but that's all it really does - the siblings are at each other's throats at the start and are still the same at the end with very little in the way of reflection or insight offered in between. The characterisations are sketchy and flat here making many of the characters seem more like caricatures rather than human beings.
Another problem here is that very little of what is on offer here feels realistic or believable. The Altman family are dysfunctional, but this concept is taken to a ridiculous extreme here and makes it look as if we're watching some sort of parody of a bad soap opera or a bad sitcom. Even if you're prepared to overlook the over-the-top antics of the Altman family then it's almost impossible to get around how unlikeable and annoying many members of the family are - it's safe to say that they are a hard bunch to tolerate over a 100 minute period.
Other major problems relate to the unfocused nature of the story; it seemed to just keep flitting around all the over the place without really settling on one main story. It never seems to settle into any kind of rhythm and ironically it actually achieves very little by trying to do too much. Screenwriter Jonathan Tropper gives many of the characters nothing interesting to say or do making the film feel both dull and boring. I also felt that too much time was spent on irritating characters and not enough time was spent on more interesting characters (such as Timothy Olyphant's character). Director Shawn Levy shoots the film in the style of a soap opera and gives the film a very tedious episodic feel.
Whilst many of the characters got on my nerves here there were a few exceptions; Jane Fonda was a lot of fun and her dirty talk about their father was both gag-inducing and pretty damn funny. Bateman is the most likable member of the Altman family and probably the most believable (and one of the few characters who didn't annoy me).
Sadly, there are only a couple of moments in this film that are either amusing or tolerable and for the most part this is a loud, irritating, and generally unbearable affair from start to finish.
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One of the best in 2014
Don't rate a movie or prejudge it before you see it. Maybe you are a fan of Night at the Museum or not, but this is a whole different thing. While the Night at the museum franchise is regular fun (which is nicely done as well), this movie is also a drama. And very well written one at that. Of course the actors at hand add their touch to it and elevate it even higher, but first comes the script and the very real characters that we get to see.
This is not laugh out loud funny and if you're (or your heart are) not made of stone, this will touch you. It's about family, it's about loss, it's about life in general. This is so well put together, that just thinking about it, emotions are coming back from when I watched it. I recommended this movie to a lot of people and I haven't heard anyone not liking it, quite the contrary. Prepare for a comedy/drama and you'll more than a treat ... you get one fantastic emotional ride of a movie :o)
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Feels like an overlong sitcom pilot when it should feel like an enriching film experience about family and relationships
This is Where I Leave You is one of those films that can almost trick you into believing it's a good film because you get so wrapped up in the energy and performances of the actors that you forget that the writing is either trying too hard or simply undercutting the wealth of talent on screen rather than enriching. In this case, This is Where I Leave You does both, not giving its characters enough plausible humanity and, instead, trades pragmatic routes for character-driven scenarios for brazen comedy or overly-sappy drama, making for a film that holds about as much emotional maturity as a satire about the topics of family and grief.
The film centers around the Altman family, who are united following the death of their patriarch, who's dying wish was for the family to sit Shiva, a Jewish tradition meaning that everyone in the family must live under the same roof for the next week, so we are told by Hillary (Jane Fonda), the Altman's mother. The four Altman siblings, who are all emotionally damaged or troubled in some way, find this to be a daunting task for many reasons: Judd (Jason Bateman), for one, has recently witness his wife having sex with his boss, Wendy (Tina Fey) has a marriage that is failing due to her husband's frequent absence, Phillip (Adam Driver) is an immature playboy unwilling to give up his childish ways, and Paul (Corey Stoll), while seeming like the only sibling who has his ducks in order, still finds ways to be too confrontational with his siblings or too hardened in his own way of thinking. Together, this family must tolerate each other for a week to adhere to their dying father's wish, and we must endure one-hundred and forty-three minutes of their comedic and dramatic zaniness.
Instantly, anyone who paid attention to film last year has visions of August: Osage County dancing in their head, a far better and more elaborate drama that won me over because of how invested it was in character relations and dialog. This is Where I Leave You is, on the contrary, invested in sitcom behavior, featuring characters with large and overdrawn personalities and situational humor taking presence over verbal wit or conversational realism. The sole intriguing Altman sibling is Judd, for he has a real problem on his hands, and whenever we get involved in talking about his particular situation is when writer Jonathan Tropper (who also wrote the book of the same name) decided to paint a more honest and emotional picture of these characters. Everything else, given the presence of Adam Driver's obnoxious Phillip character and Jane Fonda's equally obnoxious and annoying Hillary, is rooted in goofy comedy, which goes far beyond my personal threshold for family zaniness.
When the film wants to turn a bit more emotional, Tropper makes it interesting enough, at least giving these characters more to think about and place into perspective. However, the feature out of his control was the film's editing, which is crafted in a way to be emotionally manipulative, cuing the right slow-song to get the emotional rise out of the material. The more we cycle to find the broadly-drawn humor of the story, the strange characters in their own peculiar situations, and the emotional manipulation that could be crafted out of the material, the more we feel like we're watching an extended pilot for a new fall primetime program than a theatrical film.
Again, This is Where I Leave You has the partial-saving grace of multiple talented people working all in one picture, with everyone doing a pretty commendable job, even if their characters are partially annoying. Tina Fey reminds audiences why she's often considered one of the funniest females in comedy today by her one-liners, and Jason Bateman's heartbreak treads the line of potentially being close to home for some. However, take a step back and look at the film that encompasses these fine actors and you'll see one filled with unsubtle emotions and lackluster comedy, making for a painfully uneven ride through what could've been a hearty depictions of the commonalities of family.
Starring: Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Corey Stoll, Jane Fonda, Rose Byrne, and Abigail Spencer. Directed by: Shawn Levy.
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Top notch ensemble but the main story isn't that funny
Warning: Spoilers
There are so many likable actors here there should be something to enjoy for everyone in this family reunion at a funeral dramedy. Unfortunately the story isn't that interesting.
Rose Byrne with her curly hair is really sweet and pretty as the small town girl who never left. A bit ludicrous that an average looking joe who looks like Jason Bateman would have 2 such gorgeous women in his life.
The story has its moments but they tend to be the minor ones that are funny like Jane Fonda's boob job and the little kid and the potty. Some of the conflict and fighting between Corey Stoll's character and his youngest brother and the older lesbian thing seem very contrived even for this kind of dramedy.
Not a must watch but okay if you have the time.
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Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371150/reviews
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