Mostly known for telling tales about magical museums, a family with twelve kids, or fighting robots, director Shawn Levy changes the pace with comedy drama This is Where I Leave You, bringing together an impressive ensemble cast for a movie that sadly doesn't know what to do with them.
Jason Bateman plays Judd Altman, who after finding out his wife Quinn (Abigail Spencer) has been cheating him, is informed that his father has died. The Altman's, siblings Tina Fey, Adam Driver, and Corey Stoll and mother Jane Fonda, descend on the family home for a week of mourning where old secrets are aired and tensions threaten to reach a breaking point. With such a fantastic array of actors present, the most annoying problem with This is Where I Leave You is that most of it's time is focused on Bateman's Tripp navigating his feelings for childhood friend Penny (Rose Byrne), while Quinn continues to make his life complicated. There isn't enough in this story to warrant it taking centre stage, even though it does yield some of the movies funnier moments. The rest of the Altman family are put to the side, with their own stories, like Fey's Wendy dealing with an unhappy marriage or Driver's Paul trying to prove he isn't the family screw up. In fact, Paul's storyline is left frustratingly unresolved, and as good and charismatic as Diver is in the role, Paul seems to go through zero character development, making you question what was the point. A lot seems to happen off screen, the movie telling more than showing, and as the story heads towards the closing credits, revelations and resolutions seem to happen just because they need to.
The cast is what shines here, and Levy does get great performances out of them, and squeezes out some good comedy moments as the film marches on. They all spark off each other wonderfully, Fey and Bateman especially. Fonda feels underused at times, but when she is given her time in the spotlight, she steals the show as the over sharing psychologist who's best selling novel owes a lot to her offsprings embarrassing childhoods. Everybody plays their part perfectly, and puts in great performances, but again fall victims to a script that doesn't give them a chance to really make an impression.
With a different cast, This is Where I Leave You would have been forgettable, but who Levy has assembled elevates a poor script, and keeps proceedings somewhat entertaining.
Jason Bateman plays Judd Altman, who after finding out his wife Quinn (Abigail Spencer) has been cheating him, is informed that his father has died. The Altman's, siblings Tina Fey, Adam Driver, and Corey Stoll and mother Jane Fonda, descend on the family home for a week of mourning where old secrets are aired and tensions threaten to reach a breaking point. With such a fantastic array of actors present, the most annoying problem with This is Where I Leave You is that most of it's time is focused on Bateman's Tripp navigating his feelings for childhood friend Penny (Rose Byrne), while Quinn continues to make his life complicated. There isn't enough in this story to warrant it taking centre stage, even though it does yield some of the movies funnier moments. The rest of the Altman family are put to the side, with their own stories, like Fey's Wendy dealing with an unhappy marriage or Driver's Paul trying to prove he isn't the family screw up. In fact, Paul's storyline is left frustratingly unresolved, and as good and charismatic as Diver is in the role, Paul seems to go through zero character development, making you question what was the point. A lot seems to happen off screen, the movie telling more than showing, and as the story heads towards the closing credits, revelations and resolutions seem to happen just because they need to.
The cast is what shines here, and Levy does get great performances out of them, and squeezes out some good comedy moments as the film marches on. They all spark off each other wonderfully, Fey and Bateman especially. Fonda feels underused at times, but when she is given her time in the spotlight, she steals the show as the over sharing psychologist who's best selling novel owes a lot to her offsprings embarrassing childhoods. Everybody plays their part perfectly, and puts in great performances, but again fall victims to a script that doesn't give them a chance to really make an impression.
With a different cast, This is Where I Leave You would have been forgettable, but who Levy has assembled elevates a poor script, and keeps proceedings somewhat entertaining.
