Shawn Levy’s “This is Where I Leave You” is yet another ensemble funeral dramedy, a subgenre that feels, overall, a little stale and overdone at this point. The death suddenly brings everyone together into a claustrophobic environment, where they must put on polite and pleasant guises to mask awkwardness or pent-up aggression.
There will be heated arguments, thoughtful — sometimes tearful — moments of remembrance of the deceased and also memories shared between the living. Old passions and urges will be pursued, emotional baggage will be laid on the table for everyone else to see and characters will always make fools of themselves during some formal get-together, usually an after-funeral party. All of this happens, more or less, in Levy’s film and, most of the time, in a flat, predictable manner.
This isn’t to say that movies within the genre can’t be done well — Lawrence Kasdan’s “The Big Chill” and John Wells’ phenomenal “August Osage County” from last year come to mind. “Where I Leave You” is essentially a sanitized version of “August Osage”; however, “August Osage County” had an acid tongue and a dark-comedy punch that always felt raw and honest. The characters weren’t afraid to yell and stomp their feet, asserting their dominance and their true feelings for their family members, making for an unpredictable entertaining time.
Levy’s picture, by comparison, resorts more to sentimentality, hits the same gags repeatedly and goes for a more neat and tidy ending. It doesn’t do a whole lot to rise above its genre trappings.
The movie revolves around the estranged Altman family. After the father dies, the kooky therapist mother Hillary (Jane Fonda) rounds up the four kids for a week of much-needed family time. There’s Judd Altman (Jason Bateman), who’s been chugging through his life, playing it safe and convincing himself that he’s happy when he’s not. To make matters worse, he finds out that his wife has been cheating on him for a year with his boss.
Then there’s Wendy (Tina Fey), the feisty, picking-and-prodding, older sister who also cares deeply for her siblings and wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to them. She’s trapped in a passionless marriage and still in love with her hometown flame, Horry (Timothy Olyphant).
There’s the oldest child, Paul, (Corey Stoll), a nice, stable guy who’s trying to have a child with his wife.
And, finally, the young screw-up, Phillip (Adam Driver), a lighting bolt of immaturity. Driver is the best thing about “Where I Leave You,” stealing every scene he’s in and providing a nutty, unpredictable energy that the rest of the movie mostly lacks.
The action is primarily framed from Judd’s point of view; he’s easy to talk to and a good listener. But his screen presence isn’t as refreshing as Driver’s is.
The rest of the actors are pleasurable to watch, even though they’re playing stock characters, and there are a handful of pretty great, high-energy, comedic moments throughout the picture.
But then there are those flat moments — lots of them. Some of these are sincere, but they begin to feel repetitive and slow the movie down, oftentimes killing the comedic vibe completely. Plus, they’re all accompanied by the same melancholy piano cue.
There are other issues: Certain jokes get beaten into the ground fast, a third-act revelation from Fonda’s character feels a little contrived and the exhaustive ending tries to tie everything up neatly. “This Is Where I Leave You” will probably play well with a general audience, but it doesn’t breathe any new life into the subgenre.