I was supposed to see Maze Runner on Monday but it turns out that the IMDB app is a filthy liar. It told me that one of the theaters near SJSU had a morning showing, which it didn’t. Instead I went to see This Is Where I Leave You and you know what? I’m happy I couldn’t see my first choice. I bet Maze Runner is going to be a pretty good movie, but if I had seen it as planned then I would never have watched This Is Where I Leave You and I would have missed out on a great movie.
Let me warn you that the trailer does a bad job of representing the movie. Every preview I saw tried to color it as a dramedy heavy on the comedy, but in reality it was light on the comedy and HEAVY on the drama. I teared up quite a few times and since I’m a big baby at movies, this means that any normal movie goer might tear up once or twice.
The Altman family is the epitome of dysfunction and because of that, the story feels familiar. I went into it expecting to see a feel good movie about a family overcoming their darkest moments by rallying together, but that was simultaneously what it was AND what it wasn’t. Allow me to try to help you get your mind around that. The movie followed a conventional formula but that was only on the surface. Each story had it’s own ups and downs and not everything got a perfect ending. This movie was real and that’s a rare commodity in the modern age of over the top plots and forced sequels. There was a deep rooted melancholy feeling though out the whole movie that bred an air uncertainty which stopped it from being too predictable.
The writing for This Is Where I Leave You was fantastic. The dialogue was sharp and witty but it stayed believable. The great lines didn’t all belong to Jason Bateman even though he was the main character. Tina Fey, Adam Driver, and the others had plenty of well written and well delivered dialogue. The acting was also phenomenal and Tina Fey impressed me the most. When I think of Fey I think of scary Fairy folk… I’m sorry, was that high fantasy reference too obscure, or did it work? I digress. Whenever I see Tina Fey attached to something I’m always ready to find her in another Liz Lemon type role. This movie had her showing more emotion and character depth than ever before and I got chills. Jason Bateman is similarly typecast in my mind as always playing some variation of Michael Bluth but, just like Fey, he was a completely different person. The supporting cast was equally impressive and Kathryn Hahn (Crossing Jordan, Parks and Rec) was hilarious one moment and heartbreaking the next and Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Justified) was unrecognizable. I don’t want to say anything about what I liked about them because that would require spoilers so let me just say that you should keep your eye on them when you watch This Is Where I Leave You. Just a quick side note, remember folks, Adam Driver is rumored to be a pretty important character in Star Wars Episode VII!
The movie wasn’t without its downsides but they were few and far between. The only thing that really bothered me was that the ending of one of the side stories was a little to vague. I know I praised the movie for being realistic and I know that real life isn’t always tied up with a nice bow in the end, but I at least wanted a hint or more foreshadowing about certain character’s stories. The second thing that bothered me was that one of the big reveals in the end almost came out of no where. There was one hint at it early on, but that was it. It felt like an added thought. Something tacked on to the end to give the movie one more wow moment.
That being said, the pros for This Is Where I Leave You far outweigh the cons. I left the theater smiling. Not because it was particularly happy but just because it was such a good movie. Critics overall seemed to have given this movie a resounding “meh” and I know why. Because they’re gigantic sticks in the mud who hate fun and think they have to find reasons not to like something just to sound important. Don’t let bad reviews fool you, this was a good movie that’s worth a watch. See this in theaters if you can but if you’re pinching pennies or it just doesn’t interest you that much, then please watch it when it’s available to rent or buy. I really enjoyed this movie and I think that everyone should give it a chance. Just be sure you’re in the right mood before you do. Like I said earlier, there’s some pretty heavy topics and death is just one of them. So be warned.
This Is Where I Leave You gets a 9 out of 11