This is Where I Leave You is one of the more heartwarming and heartbreaking movies I’ve seen in a little while. It is the story of a family coming back home after the passing of their father. It features some truly incredible acting, by people you wouldn’t expect. Comedy heavyweights Jason Bateman and Tina Fey show a personal side, and while there are plenty of laughs here, it’s the heavier moments in the film that really stuck with me.
The Altman family is made up of Bateman, Fey, Adam Driver, and Corey Stoll, with matriarch Jane Fonda. Each of the kids has issues that they need to deal with through the course of the movie. The movie is told through Bateman’s view, who found his wife in bed with his boss just weeks before his father’s death. Fey is struggling with her marriage as well, with a career-focused husband who doesn’t have time for his family, and coming back home has set off old feelings she had for the neighbor across the street (played here by the highly underrated Timothy Olyphant). Driver (youngest child syndrome) and Stoll (oldest child syndrome – the responsible one looking to carry on Dad’s legacy) each face their issues as well.
The movie is funny, laugh-out-loud funny at times, but it is also very well acted. Anyone with a sibling feels the familiarity the actors display with each other. These are adults that grew up and moved away from home. They are family and once shared everything together, and while they can joke at each other, time and distance has them feeling hesitant to bring up any serious issues. The quartet do an amazing job of feeling like a family through the screen. It isn’t long into the movie that you really start hoping that everyone ends up ok by the end.
This movie is getting middle of the road reviews (currently 45% by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, 71% by audience), but many of the “professional” reviews I’ve poked through this morning seem to have issues with silly stuff if you ask me, such as the family doesn’t look much alike, and Fey should stick to comedy since it is her strong suit. If you aren’t a movie critic and don’t tend to over-analyze, I think you will very much enjoy this film.
Jons Movie Takes 