6.5/10

A family gathers after the death of the father/husband for a week in the house they lived in for their whole lives. What ensues is hilariously genuine moments that are both heartwarming and rich. This Is Where i Leave You stars Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Rose Byrne, and Jane Fonda among many other great and talented cast members. Bateman plays our main character who finds out his wife has been cheating on him with his boss. This forces Bateman to rediscover himself in the place where he grew up. He plays Judd pretty safe in the kinds of traits that we have come to know and love with Bateman. He is sarcastic, soft spoken, and a character we can always get behind because his characters mostly have the best intentions for the ones he loves. The real star of the film for me was Fey as Bateman’s sister, Wendy. The interaction between the two of them feels like an authentic brother/sister relationship where they each know their flaws and how to bring out the best and worst in the other one. Fey has really grown as an actress since her days on SNL. I like her in a role like this where she is fighting to hang on to everything in her life even though she knows it might not be the right thing. The comedy is definitely there in this film, but i think it’s the tender moments where the family stands together that pushed this beyond more than just another comedy at a funeral type film. The laughs are there when the film needs them, but there were parts of these characters that feel so human with their troubles that had the film tugging at my heart strings. If there is one weakness in this film it’s that the ending leaves everything to be tied up perfectly even though the battles will have you thinking otherwise. Everything is conveniently resolved to push this film into predictable territory that you could’ve seen coming from a mile away. Even with there being little surprises, the film does manage to fly into passing territory based on the strengths of it’s characters and comedic timing. It takes all the things that last year’s August : Osage County did wrong and spins them to give every character the equal kind of camera time to tell an individual story. The funeral scenes play out down to a perfect tee with characters answering the same questions to family over and over again no matter how much it’s killing them. I felt myself very able to relate to this film and the premise of sometimes having to go home to find the answers you seek. The pacing of the film is done good, but not great. There are parts of the film that make it seem a little longer than the 98 minute run time. It wraps itself up before any major damage is done on the lasting impression of the Aultman family that we are left with. This is a family that i could watch two or three films with. They take a premise that has been done a hundred times and somehow manages to make it feel like something new. I would recommend this film at least for a matinee showing. It’s something where you can bring the whole family and appreciate the time spent together and relatable events playing out on the screen in front of you. This Is Where i Leave You is overly packed with great talent across the table, but in spite of it all the elements manage to blend together as a family instead of one or two cast mates outshining the others. Family is the most important thing, and there is no greater evidence of that than this film.