This is Where I Leave You (2014) review

Dysfunctional families have been a key element of a lot of films. Last year, there was the multiple award-nominated film ‘August: Osage County’ and it has also been prevalent in films like ‘The Fighter’ and ‘Little Miss Sunshine’. This concept has also been a part of multiple TV shows. In fact, it’s pretty much a given that almost every major TV sitcom, whether it be live-action or animated, will center on a dysfunctional family as it has been proven by shows like ‘The Simpsons’, ‘Arrested Development’, and ‘Family Guy’. And of course, the dysfunctional family plotline is the key focus of ‘This is Where I Leave You’, directed by Shawn Levy (with a film that is a definite change of pace for him as it is his first R-rated film after working on multiple family-friendly films like the ‘Night at the Museum’ movies) and based off of the 2009 book of the same name by Jonathan Tropper. The family of this film is very much a dysfunctional family so if you’re not a fan of a whole heck of a lot of arguing, this film is probably not for you. But ‘This is Where I Leave You’ does manage to provide a really solid amount of laughs primarily thanks to its great ensemble cast. But what’s even better is how this movie manages to find a good balance of comedy and drama, something that’s not exactly that easy to do. But this film manages to do it and do it pretty well.

On the day of his 3^rd wedding anniversary, Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) unfortunately finds out the hard way that his wife Quinn (Abigail Spencer) is having an affair with his boss Wade (Dax Shepard) when he walks in on them having sex in their apartment. As if things couldn’t get any worse, a few weeks later he gets a call from his sister Wendy (Tina Fey) who tells him that their father has just died. They then return to their hometown where they reunite with their mother Hilary (Jane Fonda) and their two brothers, Paul (Corey Stoll) and Phillip (Adam Driver). After the funeral, they learn that as his last request, their father wanted them to mourn him through the Jewish tradition of Shiva, in which the family of the deceased gather and sit for a period of seven days in mourning. Even though the family isn’t actually Jewish, the siblings find themselves forced into doing it anyway when their mom ends up grounding them. So now that they’re all stuck under the same roof again having to honor the period of Shiva, the dysfunctional siblings end up starting to reconnect with one another as each member finds themselves having to deal with not only the loss of their father but also the current conflicts in their lives.

As is common in any dysfunctional family story, there is quite a lot of bickering amongst the Altman siblings and most of the film’s humor comes from the awkward moments that usually occur during these scenes. Overall, the film does have a pretty solid amount of humor though of course like with every comedy not all of the jokes hit. In the case of this film, it’s mostly in regards to the ‘gross-out’ moments in the film, like this one recurring gag in which the young son of one of the siblings keeps going to the bathroom in this little portable toilet that he always carries around. Thankfully, these moments don’t dominate the film’s humor. But ultimately the film’s greatest strength is that even amidst all of the arguing and gross-out moments, it plays things seriously when it needs to be. After all, this is a ‘dramedy’ about a family coping with the death of a loved one, a subject that isn’t and never will be funny. Thankfully this is not where the film’s humor comes from and the film manages to find a good balance of the humor and the drama, something that isn’t always easy to do when it comes to dramedies. Even though there are quite a lot of scenes where the Altman family is arguing with each other, there are also plenty of scenes in which they bond and these scenes are actually really touching and sweet.

Of course, this is mostly thanks to the film’s terrific ensemble cast. Their camaraderie with one another is superb and their relationships with each other feel genuine, hence why the scenes of them bonding are as strong as they are. Bateman and Fey’s more straight-faced attitudes help bring a nice balance to the crazier characters in the film, like Phillip for instance. Driver is easily one of the biggest standouts of the film in the role of the youngest of the Altman siblings which of course means that he doesn’t always act mature and Driver has quite a lot of charisma in the role. Fonda is also one of the film’s major standouts; most of her material is in relation to her character’s recent boob job which of course is a recurring joke throughout the film. But she also brings the proper motherly instinct that the role requires. As for the rest of the cast, some admittedly could’ve been given larger roles in the film, like Rose Byrne, who has really proven himself to be an excellent comedic talent earlier this year in ‘Neighbors’, as Judd’s former love interest from high school (Byrne and Bateman do have really nice chemistry) and even Corey Stoll, who kind of makes the smallest impression compared to his three sibling co-stars, but overall the cast is superb from top to bottom.

‘This is Where I Leave You’ can be quite wacky at times, as one would expect from a film centered on a dysfunctional family. But when it needs to, the film smartly tones down the craziness and as for this film being a dramedy, it’s one of the better ones that I’ve seen because it does do a really great job at balancing the humorous moments with the more serious moments. And those serious moments when the usually bickering Altmans start to reconnect with one another provide the heart of the film. Of course, this is primarily thanks to the film’s terrific ensemble cast. Not only do they have great camaraderie with one another but that also makes the relationships between their characters feel very much genuine from an emotional standpoint. Despite the occasional immature or gross-out moment, this is easily one of director Shawn Levy’s most mature films to date, if not the most. I haven’t read the book this was based on so I can’t say much about how faithful it is to the book (although I have heard about a scene from the book that got cut involving a cake that seems like a really funny situation but sadly it’s not in the film) but overall ‘This is Where I Leave You’ is a nice solid piece of entertainment that not only has a good amount of laughs but also a really good amount of heart as well.

Rating: 4/5

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) review

I really didn’t know what to expect going into this film. I remember the first time I saw this film’s trailer back around late July or so; that was before I really knew anything about the movie so I my initial thoughts were somewhere along the lines of ‘what movie is this?’ because I truly didn’t know anything about it, not even the original story it was based on. Regardless, it did leave quite the first impression on me because it looked very interesting. That story in question is a short story of the same name from 1939 by author James Thurber and it is regarded as his best story. It had been made into a movie before back in 1947 starring Danny Kaye as the titular Walter. This one, which is coincidentally produced by the son of the producer of the ’47 film, Samuel Goldwyn, is directed by Ben Stiller who stars as Walter in this version. So like I said, I didn’t know what to expect, not just from the first trailer but especially after this film received a pretty mixed reception from critics. In the end though, this one ended up being a pleasant surprise for me, mostly because of how creative the film was. It may not be entirely perfect, but it was still pretty entertaining.

The titular Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is a negative asset manager at Life Magazine. Walter, whose life is rather dull and uninteresting, frequently fantasizes of doing incredible things along with the hope of attracting the attention of one of his co-workers, Cheryl (Kristen Wiig). One day, renowned photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn) sends Walter a special photograph that, according to him, captures the ‘Quintessence’ of the magazine. That photo in question, he suggests, should be used for the final issue of the magazine, as the company is set to move into the online business. However, that photo is nowhere to be found. Having never lost a photo in the sixteen years that he has been working for the company, Walter heads off on an adventure to find O’Connell in hopes of finding the photo, finally experiencing some excitement for the first time in his life.

This film really benefits from being very creative, mainly through some of the fantasies that Walter has in the movie. I mean I certainly wasn’t expecting one of his fantasies to parody ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ but aside from that, a lot of his fantasies (which are mainly in the first half of the film, which makes sense considering that he ultimately does go off on a real adventure) are very interesting; one of them even reminded me of those fights between Peter Griffin and the giant Chicken on ‘Family Guy’ (I won’t reveal the details of the fantasy that ‘parodies’ those scenes but if you see the movie, you’ll know what I’m talking about). This is also one of the best-looking films of the year in regards to its cinematography; there are plenty of landscape shots in this film and overall the film just looks really nice. This is Stiller’s first effort as a director that’s not primarily a ‘comedy’, but while the film does have a more serious tone to it than his other films, there’s still a pretty good amount of comedy in the film, like these multiple phone calls that Walter has with a customer service rep from eHarmony, played by funnyman Patton Oswalt.

Ben Stiller does a very good job in the lead role. He gives the character of Walter a very down-to-earth personality even when considering the fact that he has frequent fantasies. You do get the sense of what kind of person he is; someone that is sort of a ‘nobody’ who dreams of one day being someone and in that regard, he is pretty relatable. He has a really nice chemistry with Kristen Wiig whose character, like Stiller’s, also has a realistic and sensible personality. Their relationship feels real and that is really the key to a successful movie romance. Sean Penn, in a rather brief role, also does a very good job as well. His character has a very laid-back and zen-like attitude and while I’ll admit that I’m no expert in photography, I have a feeling that’s how most photographers would be like. The rest of the cast of characters are a bit more over-the-top, like Adam Scott as Walter’s new ‘jerk’ boss at Life or Oswalt as that eHarmony employee, but not really to the point that it negatively affects the movie itself.

This was one of those films that left me guessing going into it because I didn’t know what to expect from it after seeing the original trailer and seeing the film’s rather mixed critical reception. But in the end, ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ turned out to be a really nice surprise because of how good it ended up being. While more serious in tone than most of Stiller’s directorial work, this film benefits from having a good amount of humor in it and is both creative and one of the best-looking films of the year. Sure, maybe the writing is not as polished as it wants to be but the movie overcomes that just from its imaginative premise. The main characters do feel real even when some of the supporting characters are a bit more exaggerated. All in all, this is a film that I do recommend; it may not be entirely perfect, but it is still very entertaining. You can’t fault this film for being ambitious.

Rating: 4/5

Short Review: Silver Linings Playbook

It's pretty hard to make a dramedy because a director has to find the right blend of drama and comedy in order for it to work. Otherwise, the end result will either be a film that plays out more as a drama with little to no humor (see last year's 'The Dilemma'), or a film that is just straight-up comedy where the drama is just glanced over. Director David O. Russell does find the right mix, however, with his latest film 'Silver Linings Playbook', based off of the novel of the same name by Matthew Quick. Technically, the film is more focused on the drama, but Russell's screenplay results in fast and witty dialogue, which is where the film's humor comes from. The film is also bolstered by a terrific cast, with Oscar-worthy performances from Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro. Cooper and Lawrence in particular have impeccable chemistry and while both of their characters are straight-up crazy, they very much feel like real people. It's certainly one of the best films of the year and one that we will surely be seeing a lot of during awards season.

Rating: 4.5/5