Review of This Is Where I Leave You (2014) by David A — 08 Dec 2014

"So this is where you say "I told you so"".

Above is not only a quote from this film; one which I was greatly anticipating but highly let down by, but is also my initial reaction after viewing it in its entirety. The reviews and ratings from critics and audience members alike informed me that Shawn Levy's first R-rated directorial outing would be a disaster, or at least not nearly as funny or satisfying as what the initial trailers had promised. But alas, I still went into This Is Where I Leave You with relatively high hopes, wanting this film to reinstate my love for the romantic comedy genre, which has as of recently become diminished (especially after the promising Michael Dowse picture What If turned out to be a sappy and highly contrived mess of a film). Unfortunately, This Is Where I Leave You proved to me yet again that my faith in romantic comedies is unfounded most of the time, and only seeks to enrage and sadden me.

It's not that this is necessarily an overtly atrocious film, nor is it that virtually the entirety of the picture is immensely cliched and lacking in realistic or relatable drama or emotion; it's the fact that every single character felt so completely one-dimensional, despite what the trailers had promised us. The film centres around the character of Judd Altman (Jason Bateman), who is called back to his childhood home after the death of his father, all whilst his job and marriage simultaneously break down. His mother, Hilary Altman (Jane Fonda), manages to convince Judd and the rest of his siblings, all of whom are currently experiencing employment and relationship issues, to stay at home and embrace each others company; to reminisce about their late father, and to engage in supposedly 'funny' ordeals alongside each other.

The summary above seems greatly encouraging; it seems funny and entertaining, and a good funeral comedy is always appreciated. Unfortunately, this comedy is most certainly not on the same level as something like Death at a Funeral, due to its often punishing forced sentimentality. The author of which this movie is based upon, Jonathon Tropper, was also the man to write the screenplay, and unlike recent author-turned-screenwriter Gillian Flynn's successful endeavour into the cinematic realm with Gone Girl, Tropper fails at providing a successful or entertaining film. Tropper often tries too hard to engage a tenderness or emotional front that seems particularly off-putting all throughout the long 100 minute running time. Whilst the opening 20 minutes provide strong introductions for each of the individual characters, as well as some genuinely hilarious moments, the film tries to veer too close to emotional resonance for what it's worth, and falls flat on its face. Often scenes where a supposedly heartwarming event is occurring seems forced, artificial or partially, dare I say it, corny, reducing the viewer to cringing the vast majority of the time. It's not fun, nor entertaining, nor at all engaging.

The film also struggles at balancing its direction, as it throws itself all over the place, attempting to cover as many people as possible. The amount of subplots that Tropper and Levy try to tackle not only convolutes the story and characters exponentially, but prevents us from becoming attached to them; the story is zipping around to so many people at any given time that it's inevitably confusing and unenthralling. The fantastic actors and actresses on offer are relegated to smaller screen times than what many of them could've had if the film hadn't have been so insistent on exploring so many different characters, themes and avenues of interest. The funny thing is that many of these avenues are rendered entirely uninteresting due to the lack of focus. With the film trying to do so much at once, many of the characters become one-dimensional pieces in a huge puzzle; they have a singular role, whether it is to be the 'bad husband', the 'desperate wife that wants a baby', or the 'crazy chick', and they often are unable to transcend these generic and boring character traits to become anything more.

That said, the performances from all involved are generally good. Jason Bateman, for the majority of the time, is a constantly comforting presence on screen, and despite his strange lack of emotion throughout a good portion of the running time, provides a solid performance. Tina Fey is absolutely exquisite in her role, however bad that role may be, providing some fantastic quips along the way. Adam Driver, Rose Byrne and Jane Fonda though are the main attractions, delivering exuberant and lively performances that manage to make much of the material they've been gifted sound relatively realistic and/or funny; Driver in particular is currently on a role, participating in What If and now this, both of them films which he has managed to somewhat elevate thanks to his charisma and screen prowess. The rest of the ensemble is quite impressive, some more so than others, with few actively disappointing in their roles. But like I've made note of, it's not the performances which are the issue, but the embarrassingly unfocused direction and writing, which gives none of them enough time to truly shine.

The technical components of the film are all either passable to plain atrocious; Michael Giacchino's score fitting that latter suggestion with flying colours. His basic piano thematic material, repeating constantly throughout, is absolutely infuriating and just sits in the background, doing nothing to advance the emotional or comedic chops of this film. The cinematography is decent enough, though a number of scenes have a visual style that seems straight out of other films (an ice rink scene in this film between Bateman and Byrne seems blatantly visually reminiscent of a certain scene in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Nevertheless, it's stil passable. But again, it comes back to the unrefined focus of this film, and that leads me to the question; what exactly does This Is Where I Leave You want to be? As a romantic comedy it fails, as the characters or romances are neither engaging nor amusing enough to warrant approval. A straight-up comedy is off the cards, as the film attempts to provoke too many emotional fronts to be considered such. That, and the comedy in the film doesn't always hit where it's meant to. A family drama? That is the closest I can get to describing this odd mess of a film. So whilst there is perhaps 30 minutes of strong and entertaining material on offer within, the rest of the running time, that being a little over an hour, is a pain to sit through. It rushes around, looking for ways to make up a full length motion picture, and despite reaching the expected running time, fails to feel wholesome nor complete. Oh well; perhaps 2015 will be a better year for romantic comedies.