This is Where I Leave You

I mainly wanted to watch this movie because of the cast. You've got Jason Bateman, an actor I've been following since Arrested Development. You've got Tina Fey, a woman who is funny as hell. Corey Stoll who, like I said in my Ant-man review, is an incredibly underrated actor, Rose Bryne who besides being hot as hell has been incredibly talented in lots of movies, and Adam Driver who I actually haven't seen that much of but want to due to the fact that he's going to be in the new Star Wars film. It just seemed like a stacked cast and I'm not totally sure how it could go wrong.

This is Where I Leave You is definitely not a straight up comedy. It actually starts on a very sad note, especially for Judd Altman (Jason Bateman's character). In the first five minutes he figures out that his wife (played by Abigail Spencer) has been having an affair with his boss (played by Dax Shepard) for a year. Not long after, Judd figures out that his father has passed away.

Judd reunites with his family, his mother (played by Jane Fonda) his eldest brother Paul (played by Corey Stoll) his sister Wendy (played by Tina Fey) and his younger brother Phillip (played by Adam Driver). Though his family was never incredibly religious, his mother tells her children that their father's last wish was to take part in a Jewish shiva where the mourning party receives guests for a week.

This family comes together for a week and each member has their own issues they have to deal with as they're trying to reconcile the fact that their father has passed away.

And every one has their issues. Judd of course is dealing with the fact that his wife and him are getting a divorce. He's also dealing with the feelings he has towards an old crush from high school (played by Rose Bryne) as she reenters his life. Paul is dealing with his wife Annie (played by Kathryn Hahn) as they want to start a family but are having trouble conceiving. Then there's Wendy who is dealing with a marriage that has produced two kids, but they are not exactly getting along. And then there's Phillip who is kind of the family screw up but is finding happiness in a relationship with his therapist (played by Connie Britton).

So as you can see, there is A LOT that happens in this film.

This does become a little problematic for the film as the movie seems very fragmented at times. When you get invested in one storyline, they kind of put that on hold to deal with another conflict. In that, the movie feels disjointed and not totally together.

Also, the movie does place Judd as the main character, which isn't a bad thing, Jason Bateman pulls off that role well, but because of that, it kind of puts some of the conflicts on the back burner and they're kind of put aside until its a good time to bring them back up.

So as a whole, the movie doesn't feel totally complete. However, this is slightly remedied by the fact that this cast works really, really well together.

Like I said, these are all incredibly talented actors and actresses. And they really act like a family. I come from a family where I have three siblings as well and the interactions I saw were a lot of fun. I can see my family doing a lot of the things that happened just because we're family. Its dysfunctional sure, but it does make for a lot of good moments.

Put on top of the fact that the movie is a good mix of comedy and drama that had me laughing at a lot of bits and gave me the feels at other parts.

I guess the down side of the dramedy aspect of the movie is that looking back, its all kind of family cheese.

The movie is designed to tug at the heartstrings, make you feel, probably give people the same reaction I had to it when I said that it reminded me of a my family.

And I in no way say that that's a bad thing, I like getting the feels every once in a while, and I like it even more when I can laugh while doing it, which this movie does.

What I might say to that end though is that the movie does set itself up a little bit too much in that when you look at some of the lines of dialogue, they're not exactly realistic as they cheesy.

Again, I really enjoyed it, I liked the cheesiness of it, I just think some people might here some of the dialogue and say, that's not exactly how families really interact.

Is the movie perfect? No. Unfortunately, I can't really say that I'll this film is overly memorable, at least it doesn't really seem like it. But I think if it comes on HBO (which I can guarantee it will) I'll probably stop and enjoy some of the humor and the fun moments from the film.

Overall, its a fun dramedy with A LOT going on. It has a family feel to it with some adult humor, but the dialogue maybe is a little bit too cheesy at points. But overall, I really enjoyed This is Where I Leave You.

But what did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to give me your thoughts and requests reviews in the future. Follow me and you'll get updates on future movie news and reviews on this blog.

I really don't have a video to post after this review. Sorry to disappoint, but nothing really comes to mind. Also, I have to wrap this up, so I'll try and get a really good video for my next review. So this is where I leave you (See what I did there?)