Knowing When To Leave (Movie Review: This Is Where I Leave You)

"This Is Where I Leave You" has an all-star cast that will leave you breathless. So what then are they doing in this sophomoric movie? Directed by Shawn Levy, this movie wastes these fine actors in a movie filled with unlikeable characters in cliched situations. Judd (Jason Bateman) catches his wife sleeping with his boss, Tina Fey plays a woman with a dick of a husband who only cares about money, Adam Driver plays the young son with a Peter Pan syndrome. They all get to sit shiva (even though their parents are atheists) and are "forced" to interact with each other for seven days. I mean, I get the concept - when families do get together, every little thing from the past s forced out, but in here I don't think any character makes any kind of right decision, and even so, their interactions all feel manufactured and fake. And if all else fails, they resort to potty humor which makes you feel that you wandered into a Judd Apatow movie. Jane Fonda, as the matriarch, seems to be lost. I can just seen her thinking in her head, "I am better than this." (And she is) While we get to see these actors try hard in the best situations (Bateman, Driver, and Rose Byrnes shine the brightest), the shoddy script can sometimes highlight their limitations (Tina Fey's character looks the most one-note) I have the book somewhere, and after reading this, I decided I just won't waste my time reading it.