Tripe. Absolute offensive tripe.
I'm a firm believer that a good rom/com can be made. I'll happily sit through Music & Lyrics over and over again. But this.....
It's got a great cast. Seriously, a really great cast. And they all put in good performances. But it plays like "A Very Special Episode of..." Not sure if that's an artifact of the source novel, but it's cloying.....Horribly.
The thumbnail plot.....Dad dies, mom has the 4 adult kids sit Shiva (they're not really Jewish) at the family home. The stereotypical kids are:
- Judd (Jason Bateman) is the neurotic protagonist who catches his wife boning his boss (on her birthday). So he's the lost 40-something who has no wife and no job.
- Wendy (Tina Fey) is the surrogate mother who's in a loveless marriage, has a promiscuous past, and drinks too much.
- Paul (Corey Stoll) is the older brother who's running the family business and is the straight-laced one. Oh, and he's trying to get his wife pregnant, and she used to date Judd.
- Phillip (Adam Driver) is the bad-boy youngest sibling who won't grow up.
Oh, and Jane Fonda's the mother who just got a boob job.
Add to this Rose Byrne as Judd's hometown girlfriend who never left home, Timothy Olyphant as Wendy's true love who was brain damaged in an accident, and the wonderful Kathryn Hahn as Paul's wife.
There are a couple of genuinely funny moments, but they're completely run over with the rote-ness of the story. It's practically a 90 minute sitcom. Of course we hear Paul and his wife have sex over the baby monitor. Of course Judd's cheating wife is pregnant with his baby. Of course Paul's wife wants Judd to give her a baby.
That's all well and good, but it gets downright insulting when it comes to Wendy and her brain damaged boyfriend who she slips off and mercy screws (husband and children be damned). And Phillip is banging his therapist, and other people, and she leaves him.....her Porsche. Oh, and dad smoked pot. And mom's a lesbian. And lots of people drive hybrids.....Except for the "bad" guys.
Horrible.
This is Where I Leave You
Moderators: sgt.null, dANdeLION
This is Where I Leave You
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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SoulBiter
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It was all that you said, although I didnt think it was horrible. I fully expected a full on stupid comedy and I never expected there would be any more to it than that. Since my expectations for the movie, going in, were very very low, the obvious stuff didn't bother me.
My expectations were low but I found the movie funny and engaging although a bit sappy in some areas. The end of the movie had me rolling.
My expectations were low but I found the movie funny and engaging although a bit sappy in some areas. The end of the movie had me rolling.
We miss you Tracie but your Spirit will always shine brightly on the Watch 
YES!wayfriend wrote:It's been all downhill since Roxanne.
Now there's a damn-near note-perfect rom/com. It doesn't treat the audience like idiots, and it doesn't debase women nearly as badly as the modern ones do.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________