This is Where I Leave You (2014)

This Is Where I Leave You is a charming studio comedy directed by Shawn Levy. It's about a dysfunctional family that comes together after the death of their father to perform the ritual of Shiva. For all our goyim consumers that is a week-long mourning period for first-degree relatives.

It’s a heartfelt movie that boasts an insanely good cast. From Jason Bateman, Adam Driver, Corey Stoll and Tina Fey, to Jane Fonda, Connie Britton, Rose Byrne and Kathryn Hahn.

This cast is so good Timothy Olyphant and Dax Shepard are in this and we aren’t even gonna mention it.

One of the big themes in this movie is not knowing your father. Jason Bateman grew up around his father, but he feels as though he never knew him.

It’s a feeling many of us can empathize with.

His arc throughout the film is to learn about who his father was, not from what people tell him but by understanding himself and the role he plays in his own life.

He learns the process of caring for his family, what it means to become a father himself, and the process of forgiveness.

While the film is about loss, it is also a film in which characters get a chance to reconnect.

Old loves are rekindled. Some friendships are rebuilt and one destroyed (sorry Boner).

But importantly for this scene, its brothers are learning to open up. They express how they view themselves, how they view each other, and not letting that push them away but actually bring them together.

They’re stealing an old Cassavettes’ trick where if you have your male presenting characters get inebriated, that's when the facade drops and the truth comes out.

Whether that’s accurate or healthy is not for us to say, but it does work quite well here.

Adam Driver is one of our best-working actors right now. But it’s not the quality of his movies or the range he is able to play.

It’s how bold he is, whether it’s playing the least funny comedian on the planet in Annette or singing his heart out in Marriage Story.

Driver knows how he plays on screen and stretches that as far as he can. This is all a long-winded way of saying we love his little dance in this scene.

Guess Monday’s Film