This is where I leave you is one of those films that should have been left behind. The gist of the film is that the father of a family dies and the siblings have to participate in a sitting Shiva. I had no clue what a Shiva was. Apparently it is when family member sit around the house at a certain time every day and friends and family stop by to offer their condolences. First of all, the family is not Jewish; or at least not practicing Jews. Second of all, at the funeral the Rabbi reads a passage from the New Testament. I'm not even very religious and I knew that it was the wrong book. Hillary Altman (Jane Fonda) is the mother who does not mind sharing everything and apparently has no filter. Judd (Jason Bateman) is the middle brother whose wife, Quinn (Abigail Spencer) has been sleeping around. This is not news
. It's in the trailer. Paul (Corey Stoll), the eldest of the bunch seems to have a stick up his butt and is just annoying. The youngest brother, Phillip (Adam Driver) is the black sheep of the family and seems to have a long history of getting into trouble. Then there is Wendy (Tina Fey) who is there just to keep everyone in line, I think. Anyway, every single person in this film has issues (and I mean everyone); even Wendy's little boy, Cole (Cade Lappin). The only person that I had a little bit of sympathy for was Horry Callen (Timothy Olyphant) who had been in a car accident and had some mental issues, but he was still endearing. It is evident in the film that the siblings have not been together for some time and this is their opportunity to re-connect or at least catch up with what is going on in their respective lives. You would think with a cast like this that the film would have been funnier than it was. I didn't laugh out loud once, although I did find myself saying "wow" a lot. I just found the film to be awkward and uncomfortable. You would think that with a veteran producer like Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Real Steel) that this film would have been better. It wasn't a total bomb, but it just didn't meet the expectations that I had.
Review of This Is Where I Leave You
