Review of This Is Where I Leave You (2014) by Jason K — 03 Jun 2015

The family drama is a very crowded genre. But the family drama that is centered on the death of a figurehead (usually the father), which brings back the kids (who are now adults), while living under the same house again and who have (definitely) grown apart is a tad easier to sort out.

Cameron Crowe's (off pitch) 2005 film Elizabethtown, 2007s The Darjeeling Limited and 2013s August: Osage County are more recent examples of this very specific subgenre. The setup is a recipe for success: bring in clashing personality types, unresolved issues and put them all under the same roof to see what happens.

The result is drama. While some have taken a conservative style (Elizabethtown, August) and others the quirky approach (Darjeeling), there is something unique about them. For example, Elizabethtown has a great soundtrack (even if the film is a tad dull), The Darjeeling Limited has an original location (a train in India) and August: Osage County has solid acting-even if the setup has been done prior.

2014s This Is Where I Leave You, adapted from the 2009 book of the same name, sadly has nothing distinguishable about it (Tina Fey is even boring in it). The plot-which sees a family reunited after the death of the father-is generic and doesn't emotionally resonate as it needs to be.

This is due to all of the characters feeling like caricatures rather than fully developed people. They fill the expected personality tropes but there is a lack of finesse in the writing, inhabiting the film of unwelcome clichés and tired creative choices (of course the youngest sibling is the wild one, being introduced with rock music-wait wasn't that done in August as well?).

Studio director Shawn Levy exposes the lack of craft in almost every scene-creating a sit-com like experience with no weight. A main theme of the film seems to be centered on the sang, "it's complicated" as almost every character says it at least once (maybe that was the original title?).

But with a genre this filled and with better options to see, there is no complication with what to do with This Is Where I Leave You.