This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
There are laughs and tears aplenty in the dysfunctional family dramedy "This Is Where I Leave You," a smartly mounted adaptation of Jonathan Tropper's best-selling novel.
The story starts with New York radio producer Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) and two bits of bad news. First, he learns his wife, Quinn (Abigail Spencer), has been having a yearlong affair with his shock-jock boss, Wade (Dax Shepard). Then, as he's getting good and depressed, his sister, Wendy (Tina Fey), calls with the news that their father, Mort, has died.
Mort's death brings about the inevitable reunion at the Altman family's upstate New York home to comfort their mother, Hillary (Jane Fonda), a therapist who documented the kids' childhood in a best-selling and (to them) embarrassing memoir. Hillary declares that Mort's dying wish was for the family to sit shiva — the weeklong Jewish mourning period.
Stuck together for a week, the Altman siblings soon reveal themselves to the audience. Here they are, oldest to youngest:
• Pete (Corey Stoll), who stayed to run the family sporting-goods business. He and his wife, Annie (Kathryn Hahn), who dated Judd before marrying Pete, are struggling to conceive a child.
• Wendy, the bossy sister, who has two small kids in a loveless marriage to Barry (Aaron Lazar). Wendy pines for her high-school love, Horry (Timothy Olyphant), brain-damaged from a car crash years ago.
• Judd, who encounters Penny (Rose Byrne), a figure skater who has carried a torch for him since high school. They seem to have sparks, but that's complicated when Judd learns Quinn is pregnant and he's the father.
• Phillip (Adam Driver), the screw-up, who arrives with his latest girlfriend: his former therapist, Tracy (Connie Britton), who's much older and richer than he is.
Tropper wrote the adaptation of his novel, and it's a shock to realize it's his first screenplay. He shows a deft hand balancing the comic with the tragic and juggling the different story threads of the fractured Altman family. He manages to give every character at least one moment of pure emotional honesty.
The script is so good that not even director Shawn Levy, best known for hacktastic crowd-pleasers like "Real Steel" and the "Night at the Museum" films, can screw it up too much. Levy overplays some of the running jokes — like how everyone refers to the Altmans' young rabbi (Ben Schwartz), with whom the siblings grew up, by his unfortunate childhood nickname — but mostly he keeps his cheap-laugh impulses in check.
With an ensemble cast like this, every viewer will come away with a favorite. Mine were, mostly, the women. Fey shows solid dramatic sensibilities, while also delivering the best deadpan jokes. Hahn (who paired with Bateman in "Bad Words") neatly conveys Annie's frustration of hormone injections and tracking ovulation cycles. And Fonda, still vibrant at 76, brings both gravitas and a wicked wit.
Not everything works perfectly in "This Is Where I Leave You," and some plot threads are left hanging while others are tied up too neatly. It's messy and emotional and a little out of balance — you know, like family.
HHH
'This Is Where I Leave You'
Novelist Jonathan Tropper, in his first screenplay, smartly adapts his seriocomic story of siblings reuniting at their father's funeral.
Where • Theaters everywhere.
When • Opens today.
Rating • R for language, sexual content and some drug use.
Running time • 103 minutes.