Review of Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2012) by Cory M — 21 Jul 2012

The writing-directing sibling duo of Jay and Mark Duplass have delivered another solid quirky indie comedy. This time they have the home field advantage of telling a tale about adult brothers in "Jeff Who Lives at Home". The movie stars Jason Segel as Jeff, a slacker who is 30 and (ya!) lives at home. He is an avid fan of the movie "Signs", and it's not a good sign when he thinks that everything that happens around him is a cosmic-force guiding sign to something extraordinary. Jeff ignores the warning signs from his demanding mother Sharon who urgently orders him to fix a closet shutter or else. Sharon has a bit of lovebird signs going on herself when she encounters that someone from her job is playing the "secret admirer" game with her via instant messaging. In the film's opening, Jeff receives a harassing call from someone asking for a Kevin. Low and behold, Jeff thinks that Kevin Costner can land him a role in "Waterworld 2"⦠OK, I am kidding! But the "Kevin" factor does play a prominent role in the movie. "Jeff Who Lives at Home" is more about the relationship between Jeff and his egocentric older brother Pat than actually Jeff living at home. Through a series of pseudo M. Knight Shyamalan events (for lack of a better director), Jeff ends up unexpectedly meeting Pat at several locations which result in some very comedic moments. Pat is in a troubled marriage with his wife Linda. She resents the fact that his self-centered ways have led him to purchase a new sports car instead of saving that money so they could buy a house together. Not a lot really goes on in "Jeff Who Lives at Home" but that's not such a bad thing. The Duplass bros do succeed in telling a brotherly tale about the dysfunctional ways of adult siblings and how surprising events can build those sibling bonding bridges back. Their direction did lack enthusiasm at times during the film, but their extremely witty screenplay compensated for that. Segel continues to make his mark as one of the best comedic actors in the business. Jason was brilliant as Jeff! This homeboy knows how to act. Ed Helms stood pat with his steady performance as Pat. Judy! Judy! Judy! Judy Greer continues to move up in my actress aficionado list with yet another exceptional performance. She shined as Linda. Susan Sarandon brought some adequate motherly love to the picture with her good work as Sharon. And it was great so see once again Rae Dawn Chong in a movie after a long hiatus in the motion picture industry; or at least it seemed that way. I was wondering when it was going to be Chong's "next movie". Rae Dawn was breaking dawn (ok, very corny twilight pun here) in rejuvenating her acting career with her great supporting performance as Susan's co-worker pal Carol. I don't think you should get out of your home to see "Jeff Who Lives at Home", but then again it's not a bad idea to spend 90 minutes at home by watching this picture. Later homies!

**** Good.