This Is Where I Leave You

First Hit:  Moments of brilliance with moments of negating over the top behavior.

The Altman  family gathers together because the father has died. Hillary (Jane Fonda) is the widow and her 4 children come to pay their respects to their father. She states that their father wanted the children to sit 7 days of Shiva. Reluctantly the children sit in chairs that are too low to the floor and begin the process of relating to each other again.

This could have been a more powerful story with comedy woven in, however the behavior of the adult children, especially youngest son Phillip (Adam Driver), turned me off to what could have been a more compelling story. Scenes where he turns up the baby monitor, in front of all the guests, to hear his brother and sister-in-law have sex at their father’s Shiva was tasteless.

Yes, it was supposed to be funny but it came off as insensitive. Then there were the physical fight scenes – where the brothers were in fisticuffs with each other over petty stuff – just seemed to be more than needed. However, there were also great touching scenes of both the comedic and sensitive nature.

Sister Wendy (Tina Fey) hitting her brother Judd’s (Jason Bateman) former boss Wade (Dax Shepard) because he slept with Judd’s wife was priceless. Just as was the scene of the brothers smoking the pot left in their father’s jacket while in a classroom at the Jewish temple – very funny, revealing and a true family and brotherly like moment.

Bateman was effective as the guy who has lived a very controlled precise predictable life and has had it turned upside down. His character change to someone that is willing to add a bit of complication in his life was very good. Fey was adorable as the sister among 3 very different brothers. She held her own both based on the role as well as her acting strength. Corey Stoll (as oldest brother Paul) was very good. He definitely had the older responsible, stay with the family business attitude down. Driver was good, but I didn’t like the script for him. It made him seem both dumb and ridiculous and he was really neither. Rose Byrne (Penny Moore) as Bateman’s old childhood friend was fantastic. I would have liked more of her in the film. Fonda was a hit. She really had me each time she was on the screen. I’ve loved her since the 1960’s (Cat Ballou – 1965 – where I first enjoyed her dramatic and comedic turns). Shepard was strong as the affected self-absorbed Disc Jockey. Jonathan Tropper wrote an occasionally strong and often misguided script. Shawn Levy didn’t seem to have a really clear direction as to what he wanted: Drama with great laughs or a comedy with some high-school like behavior out of adults while dealing with a serious subject.

Overall:  This film had glimpses and the possibility of being much better than it ended up being.

Hit and Run

First Hit:  Felt like it was put together in a hurry – low craftsmanship – yet it was enjoyable with a solid set of points.

Stay in the present. People can change. Forgiveness of oneself and others is important. And, how a person shows up to you now may be different from how they were in the past. I liked these points.

However, does this film make them well? Not really and that is the down fall of this film. Hit and Run is a title that is more about how the film was made than the action in film itself. Yul Perkins a.k.a. Charles Bronson (played Dax Shepard) is a man who in a witness protection program and guarded by a totally incompetent Sheriff, Randy Anderson (played by Tom Arnold).

Not sure why this character had to be this incompetent throughout the movie only to show up in the last few scenes as competent – but that is part of the problem of this film. Then you have Annie Bean (played by Kristen Bell) who is a very beautiful woman, living with Charles, and who is going to lose her job in a local college but gets a chance to head up a nonviolent communication school in LA. This causes Charles to talk about his real past, name, and why he is in a witness protection program.

Yul was once a bank robber with Alex (played by Bradley Cooper) and Neve (played by Joy Bryant) and drove the getaway car. Alex’s introduction into the film was one of the more interesting scenes of late. He loves dogs, doesn’t want them mistreated, and sees a dog who is unhappy in front of a store, makes a few comments to the owner, and from there, the violent tendencies of Alex are brought forth.

The story is about settling scores, forgiveness and making a new life. Shepard as writer, co-director and actor is obviously more than he can handle.

The film felt rushed in execution, the writing for some parts (Arnold’s and his own) was amateurish.

As an actor Shepard does not command the screen but does make other in a scene stand out. Bell is perky and refreshing but I’m not sure this was the part for her. She almost seemed out of place. Arnold was mostly unwatchable. His nervous quirkiness ended up on the screen as someone completely lost as to what to do. Cooper was actually the most interesting to watch. His relaxed way in how he expresses his violent nature in this part was very good and I liked him a lot. Bryant was OK as Alex’s sidekick who was once engaged to Perkins. Dax Shepard wrote the script and also co-directed the film with David Palmer. The script was unpolished and bumpy at times while the direction and whole feel of the film was rushed - sort of hit and run.

Overall: This mostly chase film is amateurish, however there were moments of laughter, action and wisdom.