When their father passes away four grown siblings must face the past and the grim present when they all return to their childhood home and attempt to live together again for a week. Each having their own issues to deal with and trying to come to terms with the choices they have made in life.
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This Is Where I Leave You is a very impressive comedy drama film, it manages to balance out those two genres and create an enjoyable yet thought provoking film. Taking a look at different life choices the characters had made in the earlier years and the current situations they find themselves in, all while trying to come to terms with the death of their father.
Judd Altman is pretty much our main character and in the opening of the film he walks in on his wife cheating on him with his boss of all people. Which is the end for him and he immediately demands they get divorced, I mean who could actually blame him it was rather horrific. When he then gets the call about his father he must return home but attempts to keep the divorce secret from his family, especially his mother Hilary confiding in his sister Wendy.
Wendy has her own problems and seems to be drinking in an attempt to hide them. Rising her children without much support from her husband who is constantly on his phone. Then we have Paul who clashes with Judd and is having marital issues with his wife Anne. She is desperate to start a baby but that just does not seem to be happening for them.
Then the baby of the family Phillip who is late for the funeral and has brought his therapist as his date who is his current girlfriend. He had always wanted nothing more than to be able to hang out with his siblings but the age difference made this rather difficult to make happen, as he mentions by the time he could drink they had all left.
It really delves quite deep into so many problems that people and families face but also how they can explode in the worst possible ways as well. We get plenty of arguments and even fights breaking out with different events as they all try and hold it together. Revelation after revelation seems to happen and being accepting is probably the biggest challenge they all face.
Along with being back home they also run into people from their past and again that has some very different outcomes and issues. All intertwined into many moments with the comedy placed so perfectly within the more hard hitting moments really managing to lighten the mood.
The cast is very strong with Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver, Corey Stoll and Kathryn Hahn having the bigger parts. With Rose Byrne, Connie Britton, Dax Shepard, Debra Monk, Timothy Olyphant, Ben Schwartz and Abigail Spencer in the more supporting roles.
With the combination across the dramatic and comedic genres it manages to stay very real and has such heart at its core. Mainly due to being able to relate to at least one of the characters and possibly having a similar experience happen in your own life.
