Review of This Is Where I Leave You (2014) by Patrick L — 22 Dec 2014

"Here's a movie you can leave behind on your must-see list".

Movie Review: This is Where I Leave You.

Date Viewed: September 26 2014.

Directed By Shawn Levy (Cheaper by the Dozen, Night at the Museum, The Internship,.

Date Night, Real Steel and The Pink Panther).

Screenplay By Jonathan Tropper, Based on his novel.

Starring: Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Jane Fonda, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll,.

Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, Dax Shepard,.

Timothy Olyphant, Abigail Spencer, Aaron Lazar, Ben Schwartz and Debra Monk.

"This is Where I Leave You" is an inept comedy-drama that wants to be "Home for the Holidays" but it isn't. It has straight-forward sitcom material and it has a bunch of talented actors, Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Connie Britton (from "Friday Night Lights" and "Nashville"), Timothy Olyphant and even Jane Fonda. It's about a family who haven't gotten together in a long time but they don't get along. Each one of them acknowledges his or her problem, they talk it out and by the end of the movie, everybody is OK.

Jason Bateman stars as Judd, one of four siblings in the Altman family. After he discovers that his wife is cheating on him with his boss, Wade (Dax Shepard), he leaves her. Unhappy and without a job, Judd receives devastating news. His father has died and his celebrity psychologist mother (Jane Fonda) wants him, Phillip (Adam Driver), Wendy (Tina Fey) and Paul (Corey Stoll) to go back home and stay with her for a full week. Judd's three siblings are dealing with problems of their own, Wendy has a husband who is always busy with work and she still can't get over her old childhood sweetheart, Horry (Timothy Olyphant), Paul (the no-nonsense brother of the family) and his wife, Annie (Kathryn Hahn) are trying to conceive and Phillip (the youngest of the four siblings) is a bachelor who's dating a much older woman named Tracy (Connie Britton).

We also get Rose Byrne as Penny, Judd's old high school crush. Gee, will they hit it off again?, Oh the suspense is killing me. "This is Where I Leave You" is a movie you can leave behind on your must-see list, it is a mediocre comedy that has toilet jokes and Jane Fonda's huge melons (COME ON! You're 76 years old!). It has enough fights, infidelities, breakups, breakdowns, pregnancies and infertilities to make you squirm in your seat. The jury is still out on whether Shawn Levy (The Pink Panther, Real Steel and Cheaper by the Dozen) is an incompetent director but he has made some funny movies ("Night at the Museum" and "Date Night").

Despite several funny moments, the actors have nothing to work with here. "This is Where I Leave You" is the cinematic equivalent of having a bowl of moldy cereal.