‘It’s hard to see people from your past when your present is so cataclysmically screwed up…’
The plot device of the death of a parent bringing a dysfunctional family back together is pretty tired. And it was tired even back in 2014. In this respect, This is Where I Leave You is bringing nothing new to the table in terms of plot, but as with all ensemble pieces, it is on the cast to elevate the material, and luckily, Shawn Levy has assembled a whole load of talent to tell his story…
Following the death of an unseen patriarch (who still looms over the whole thing even in absentia), the Altman family come together for the funeral. Judd (Jason Bateman) has just discovered that his wife (Abigail Spencer) is cheating on him with his boss (Wade Beaufort). Wendy’s (Tina Fey) relationship with her husband has become loveless and distant, and she pines for her first love Horry (Timothy Olyphant). Phillip (Adam Driver), the black sheep of the family, is dating Tracy (Connie Britton), a woman who is seemingly identical to his mother (Jane Fonda). And finally, Paul (Corey Stoll) attempts to juggle being the serious sibling with trying to impregnate his increasingly desperate wife Annie (Kathryn Hahn). Throw in Rose Byrne as Judd’s childhood sweetheart Penny and Ben Schwartz as the local rabbi and you have yourself one hell of a cast.
Unfortunately, This is Where I Leave You is never as good as the sum of its parts. A cast this talented should be able to produce a great movie, but Jonathan Tropper’s generic script doesn’t give Bateman et al much to work with. There are funny moments and sweet moments, but nothing to evoke audible laughter or actual tears. This is a middle of the road movie that will live or die depending on the viewer’s opinion on the cast members. As a devotee of Bateman, I enjoyed This is Where I Leave You without loving it. It’s the kind of film that passes the time perfectly serviceably while it is on, but that you then completely forget the moment that the credits roll. I would recommend watching Levy’s far superior sci-fi yarn The Adam Project instead.