What It’s About: Not another man-child slacker comedy! Yes, but this family dramedy is alternately sweet and goofy in the hands of indie darlings the Duplass brothers (“Cyrus,” “The Puffy Chair”), who co-wrote as well as co-directed. An ordinary day turns out to be one for the ages. Thirty-year-old Jeff (Jason Segel) lives in his mom’s basement. He is content to ponder the cosmic patterns of the universe, obsessed with signs and destiny.
His brother Pat (Ed Helms) appears to be the more successful one — steady job, lovely wife — but his life is in shambles, as his marriage is falling apart. Their mom Sharon (Susan Sarandon) is a lonely widow in a mundane office job. She yearns for something different, and discovers she has a secret admirer hidden among the other cubicles. All she wants on her birthday is for Jeff to go buy some wood glue to fix a shutter in the kitchen. He embarks on a journey that never winds up at the hardware store.
Setting: Baton Rouge, La.
Performances: The family dynamic is key to this film’s success, and not only are Jason Segel and Ed Helms believable as polar opposite brothers, but they have a nice odd-couple chemistry together. It’s a treat to see Susan Sarandon in a normal middle-age mom role, and she shines as the exasperated mother of these two adult sons who haven’t grown up yet. The superb character actress Judy Greer, after a heartfelt turn in “The Descendants,” is good as the unhappy spouse. Rae Dawn Chong is Sharon’s co-worker.
What Works: The Duplass brothers have set the film in their hometown of Baton Rouge but without any flavor of Louisiana. They have made the location as bland as can be, devoid of any local color on purpose. They chose chain restaurants, motel, office settings, and nondescript shopping centers to emphasize how complacent and boring these people’s lives are. While it’s certainly uneven, by focusing on people trapped by the choices they’ve made, the film features interesting characters who you can recognize in anytown USA.
What Doesn’t Work: This is not an in-your-face comedy like the plethora of “The Hangover” wannabes. It actually is gentler than one expects, so you won’t be laughing heartily. However, you can relate to the plight of this family, which is often humorous, and sometimes touching. This is the kind of film that takes its own sweet time getting to where it wants to go, and it’s not that long to begin with, at less than an hour and a half long.
MOVIE INFO
Stars: Three
Starring: Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer, Rae Dawn Chong
Director: Jay and Mark Duplass
Length: 1:23
Rated: R for language, sexual references and some drug use.
Originally published in the Belleville News-Democrat March 2012
Venhaus Creative 