If any part of director Shawn Levy's (the NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM films, DATE NIGHT, THE INTERNSHP, REAL STEEL) latest work THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU appeals to you, you can thank the exceedingly likable and talented cast, because it sure as hell won't be because there's anything appealing about this whine-fest. Written by Jonathan Tropper (based on his novel), the film concerns the reunion of four adult siblings on the occasion of their father's passing and dying wish that the family sit shiva (the Jewish mourning practice where the family gathers in the house for a week and receive visitors to talk about and celebrate the life of the deceased. Hardly anyone in the family even questions this for some reason, even though dad wasn't a practicing Jew and mom (Jane Fonda) isn't Jewish at all.
Still, the Altman family agrees to be in each others' company for seven days, and because they all seen to have issues with some or all of the others, it doesn't go well. Brother Judd (Jason Bateman) recently found out his wife (Abigail Spencer) has been sleeping with his boss (Dax Shepard) for a year, so his life is hell, but he's happy to get away. Older brother Paul (Corey Stoll) stayed home to run the family sporting goods store, and is currently attempting with no success to impregnate his wife (Kathryn Hahn), who dated Judd in high school and still has feelings for him. Youngest brother Phillip (Adam Driver) is a reckless, aimless simpleton who is dating his considerably older ex-therapist (Connie Britton). Finally, only sister Wendy (Tina Fey) hates her workaholic husband and still pines for her high school beau (Timothy Olyphant), who just happens to live across the street with his mother (Debra Monk), and has since a high school car crash caused brain damage that make his short-term memory a bit of an issue. Got it?
The overall problem with THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU is that none of the issues this family is facing is anything we haven't seen in other, better films that don't treat their characters like archetypes. There are no people in this film behaving like actual human beings, and they certainly don't act like family members. People just blurt out the most personal information about each other and then literally giggle about it a second later. The only character who is even remotely tolerable isn't even a family member. Judd has a little revenge fling with Penny (Rose Byrne), who had a crush on him in high school and for whatever reason still finds him intriguing. There's nothing inherently exciting and unique about Penny, but her lack of shrieking and complaining makes her a standout in this film.
I will give the movie credit for not soft-pedaling the language in the screenplay. This is a hard R-rated film for a whole lot of dirty talk, including a great deal having to do with babymaking. But so much of the crying and bitching and moaning seem to stem from problems that feel absolutely manufactured from a Screenwriting 101 text book. And the only thing dumber than their problems are the resolutions, which are all over the place in terms of logic or me giving a shit.
THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU saves one of its biggest "shockers" (about mom) for the film's final minutes for no particular reason, and guess what this big revelation adds to the whole affair: absolutely nothing. And that's pretty much the place this film holds in my heart. As I said, if any part of this uninspired piece appeals to you, it's likely because you've seen members of this cast in something better and that residual feeling is carrying over. Levy has it in him to make funny and interesting films, but this isn't one of them. Too often, his impulse is to go big, broad and bawdy, and it so rarely works with this material. I'm not saying quiet and sensible would have worked any better, but perhaps a happy middle-ground would have been a nice companion tone for so much on-screen distress. As it stands, the film is a painful mess.
