A great cast and a superb script deliver a very entertaining and enjoyable film in THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU.
Adapting his own bestseller, Jonathan Tropper delivers memorable, real and witty dialogue in telling the story of the Altman family.
When their atheist father dies, Mom Hilary (Jane Fonda) announces that they are half Jewish/half Atheist and that her husbands last wish was to gather all their children to sit Shiva with her for a week.
As the siblings arrive, its hard to imagine them spending one dinner together, let alone a full week of celebration and mourning under the same roof.
Jason Bateman is superb as Judd, who arrives after finding his wife cheating with his boss. Tina Fey is his sister Wendy, trapped in an unhappy marriage and still carrying a soft spot for her high school sweetheart Horry (Timothy Olyphant).
Corey Stoll is Paul, the most responsible, dull and therefore abused sibling whose spouse Annie (very funny Kathryn Hahn) is on a conquest to get pregnant.
Rounding out the cast is youngest, wildest brother Philip (excellent Adam Driver from "Girls") and his new girlfriend (and therapist) played by Connie Britton.
Lazy writing would spill out all the stereotypical story lines you'd expect, but this family's cast of characters is refreshingly eccentric.
There's not a weak performance in the bunch and Jane Fonda does an excellent job as a famous author and successful woman without any filter. The rest of the cast matches her, with Bateman, Olyphant and Driver true standouts.
There are plenty of laughs, some surprises and a few tears. The film's poster featured the tagline, "Welcome Home, Get Uncomfortable".
I'd tell you to get comfortable and watch a cast of pros knock an excellent screenplay out of the park. We'll sit Shiva with this gang anytime, they get an A.
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