![]() ![]() ![]() There are also nice turns by soon-to-be-Star Warrior Adam Driver, a perky Rose Byrne, and veteran lightning rod Jane Fonda. It's easy to be impressed by the dramatic capabilities of actors known primarily for lighter fare - in particular, Jason Bateman and Tina Fey, both of whom are terrific. ![]() There's humor in This Is Where I Leave You but it rarely goes too far. This Is Where I Leave You mostly achieves this goal, although there are instances, especially during the last act, when artifice creeps into the narrative in the service of providing a tidy ending. The difference is one of tone - to do this right, it's necessary to uncover the essential human characteristics of the characters (both good and bad) while avoiding instances of extreme melodrama. The French excel at this sort of movie but American forays into the subgenre often take on the feel of a lazily scripted sit-com. The mechanism by which this happens is usually a big event such as a party, a wedding, or (as in this case) a funeral. This Is Where I Leave You is a card-carrying member of the "family reunion" category of motion pictures wherein circumstances bring together characters whose once-close relationships have grown distant over the years. ![]()
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