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When it isn’t trying to out-zany a French farce, the film meanders as aimlessly as its protagonist, leading to a deus ex machina dénouement which feels contrived and atypically ‘Hollywood’. That seasick-inducing, 24-style camera work has got to stop. He has no friends, no love life, and does little beyond smoke weed and refine a philosophy that argues there's no such thing as chance and everything is connected. So, when someone calling a wrong number asks for "Kevin," Jeff begins his search. His tightly wound brother, Pat , is undergoing a mid-life crisis.
And it just so happens to be the one day in the life of Jeff in Paramount Pictures "Jeff Who Lives at Home" who reconnects with his family on a human level on the same day. The first half of the film portrays a socially awkward Jeff, with his newfound infatuation with anything to do with Kevin. It looks like a pothead comedy, which I do not usually enjoy.
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Jason Segel is one of my favorite actors, just for the levity and warmth he brings to any film he's in but this is my first time watching a Duplass brothers' film I have ever seen. The characters, especially the one portrayed by Ed Helms, are believable and developed so well they sort of take on significance away from or outside of the story and its conflicts. The Duplass directing style utilizes micro-bursts of quick zoom in many scenes, giving this a quasi home-movie feel at times. As for the acting, I can't imagine another actor than Jason Segel could have pulled off the role of Jeff.
So, really, he’s just a sign of the monoracial universe of independent moviemaking. He ignores the needs of his wife, buying, for instance, a Porsche they can’t afford. We’re meant to know Pat’s a loser because he has a bad goatee and spends the movie in his work uniform (the logo reads, “Poplar Paint Company’’). The only perceptive lines here belong to Greer, who creates such a persuasive portrait of aggravation and disappointment that you have no idea what the woman she’s playing has to do with Helms’s comic-strip character.
'Jeff': A Tempting Tale Of Fate, Or Something Like It
The heart of the story, and Jeff’s general philosophy, is the interconnectedness of life — that there is always a reason; nothing is random. It’s kicked into high gear by a phone call that Jeff deliberates over, then decides to answer. Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media.
The disappointment is that it doesn't really go over the top with any of those things. I like it when a movie really reaches for something, but this movie climbs to the peak and reveals nothing surprising on the other side. I enjoyed the movie while I was watching it, but it isn't one that I am going to carry with me. There are two scenes in the movie that work perfectly, first is the scene when Pat finally confronts Linda about the other man. They have an argument that is full of truth and really seems to come out of reality.
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Jeff does indeed still live at home, in his mom’s basement, drawing most of his murky understanding of the ways of the world from M. Night Shyamalan’s spooky film “Signs.” Mom is fed up and enlists Jeff’s estranged brother Pat to get him off the couch and reengaged in life. Jeff Who Lives at Home is a nice, sweet movie of no real significance. It is appropriately funny when it needs to be; dramatic when it needs to be; and moving when the need arises.
Segel is just about the perfect choice for this role because there is just something about him that you find disarming and comfortable no matter what he is doing. If you are looking for a typical Segel comedy this is not it. This one has more substance and heart and is very much worth watching. Overall, if you liked "Everything Must Go" then this movie is for you. Jeff, Who Lives at Home climaxes with one of those big scenes that brings all the characters together and resolves most of the plot threads.
Jeff Who Lives at Home Review
Additionally, the humor isn't particularly outrageously funny, which might disappoint fans of other "mature" comedies a la The Hangover. Without giving anything away, this is a really great film about trust, communication, and following your heart. It is definitely on my list of favorites and I will be watching other Duplass films. We hear REAL people talk, not one dimensional cyphers, and they're warm and witty, and we like all of them. These are the sort of individuals I want at my funeral (But let's save that discussion for another day) We care about their fates, and the many snarky exchanges make it laugh-out-loud funny too.
Jeff, Who Lives at Home is short enough not to wear out its welcome but the payoff is so slim that the investment of any serious time or effort is unlikely to be repaid in full. All of this takes place in one day, a slapstick-filled Bloomsday for characters more Bloom County than James Joyce , within a setting as blandly American as what most of us see out our front door. The movie is shot without fuss, nothing arty, just drab reality. The Duplass brothers, who co-wrote and co-directed, cut between Pat and Jeff’s adventure and Sharon’s day at her office job, where things, including a revelation about a secret admirer, actually happen to her. (A 60-something woman with a storyline? Hallelujah.) Sarandon gives a terrific performance as the kind of woman she has rarely played, a little insecure and a lot lonely. It’s a winning cast all the way around, Greer, Rae Dawn Chong (playing one of Sharon’s co-workers) and Helms , who is hilariously odious and then surprisingly vulnerable.
Amid a flurry of coincidence, Linda’s fidelity is thrown into question and the sparring brothers end up on an odyssey to investigate. Jeff is a thirty year old man with a puncheon for the film Signs and lives in his mother Sharon's basement. His older brother Pat still lives close by with his wife Linda .
After seeing the movie 'Signs' and having someone with the wrong number call him and ask for a Kevin, he believes it to be a sign. The rest of his arc delves into him following after all things tied to "Kevin," and the strange paths it takes him. It's one of those chores that sets the film's plot — which is contained entirely within a single day — into motion.
Their journey in growing up and ultimately just learning to live life is so positive and heart-warming. All four of the main characters (Jeff, his brother Pat, their mother, and Pat’s wife Linda) experience major changes that really spoke to me as an audience member. One of the primary reasons for my surprise is that the focus of Jeff's life is something that makes me nuts. I believe our intuition is monstrously important, but we can't wait around for the universe to hand us a blueprint. It had its moments people will critique ad nauseam of course, but it is a great story, well told, with a cast that delivered. Watching the different dynamics between the characters held me.
His marriage to Linda is on the rocks and his irresponsible behavior is pushing it to its end. Jeff and Pat's mother, Sharon , dreads going home and finds a spark of mystery at work when a "secret admirer" sends her an intra-office IM. Anyone unable to guess the identity of the secret admirer after a couple of scenes with Sharon has never heard of the Law of Conservation of Characters. Parents need to know that Jeff, Who Lives at Home is a low-key dramedy with some vulgar content but also some worthwhile messages. The main character (played by The Muppets' Jason Segel) smokes pot, and his brother drinks beer and whisky.
On his way to the store to buy wood glue, Jeff looks for signs from the universe to determine his path. However, a series of comedic and unexpected events leads him to cross paths with his family in the strangest of locations and circumstances. Jeff just may find the meaning of his life...and if he's lucky, pick up the wood glue as well. Meanwhile, Pat and Jeff's widowed mother Sharon works in an office cubicle and begins receiving instant messages from a secret admirer. The messages are sweet and clever and she becomes intrigued.
