I know that’s not exactly aiming high, but it seems more and more folks are “living at home.” I’m closer to 40 now than I ever thought possible — I was sure aging would slow down — and when I say living at home I mean my own home. Yet to many, for whatever reason, home is the basement of their parents’ house.
That’s the situation of Jeff (Jason Segel) in 2012’s “Jeff, Who Lives at Home.” As the film opens we see 30-year old Jeff alone in his mother’s Baton Rouge basement. He records insightful philosophy from the privacy of his bathroom on an out-of-date tape recorder. He watches infomercials and partially believes they might just actually be directed at him. Jeff believes there’s a pattern to life and an interconnectedness to all things. His one goal is not to leave home but to figure out what this interconnected universe wants from him. It’s a daunting task that has him essentially saddled to his couch.
A miss-dialed number awakes him from his near catatonia. The caller is looking for someone named Kevin. Jeff assumes there are no wrong numbers and begins his search for his own destiny, or that of Kevin’s. When Jeff’s mother, Sharon (Susan Sarandon) tasks Jeff with actually leaving the house to acquire something from the Home Depot Jeff’s investigation into the mystery of Kevin becomes an expedition.
Along the way we are introduced to Jeff’s older brother, Pat (Ed Helms) who is in the middle of a rocky relationship with his wife Linda (Judy Greer). Pat’s solution to reignite the fire in his dwindling relationship is to buy a Porsche. Aside from this seemingly impulsive move on Pat’s part he’s the responsible one. He’s got a job, and an apartment and now keys to a brand new Porsche. Oddly enough he’s perhaps more directionless and lost than his stay-at-home brother.
The two brothers meet up accidentally. Jeff’s philosophy of interconnectedness bashes into Pat’s passive aggressive nihilism. The two have unresolved issues that we learn overlap into even their mother’s life. Their lives, though previously separate become deeply entwined in a sequence of serendipitous events that will shape the lives of the family forever.
Jason Segel’s Jeff is the kind of guy you wouldn’t loan money to. You’d know you’d never get a return on your investment. However he exudes a genuine naivety and sweetness that would almost make you fork over some cash anyway. Pat, conversely will most likely pay you back but he’s such an insufferable fool you’d hide your wallet when he comes to visit.
The two play off each other in a surprisingly warm manner. We can believe they are brothers and we can see something has driven a wedge into the family and that wedge might just be the thing that holds Jeff hostage in his mother’s basement.
“Jeff, Who Lives at Home” is billed as a comedy, but there are few laugh out loud moments. It does have a certain charm though that kept a smile on my face throughout Jeff and Pat’s awkward adventure together. More importantly the story of the fractured family is delicately and artfully assembled into a quite touching whole. Strange coincidences move the plot forward and leave us wondering is Jeff really as out of touch as he seems or is there really something to his Zen-like philosophy of life. I’m not moving in with my dad to devote all my energy into discovering if Jeff is right, but in quiet moments to myself I might just believe we’re all connected in some dazzling and unsuspecting way.
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| 3-and-a-half out of 5 bottles of wood glue |
Starring: Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon and Judy Greer
Directors: Jay and Mark Duplass
Runtime: 83 minutes
Rated R for language including sexual references and some drug use.
I believe I shall see this film.
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