A full length trailer has finally debuted for a project that has been building some buzz ever since it was first announced early in 2013. This Is Where I Leave You is the adaptation of Jonathan Tropper’s popular novel of the same name – featuring an all-star dream cast, with Shawn Levy (Night At The Museum) directing from a screenplay penned by the author himself.
The premise of the story is simple enough – a father leaves instructions for his family to spend 7 days together after he passes away – but with a cast like this, you can guarantee things will get complex in a hurry. Jason Bateman (Bad Words), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Adam Driver (Girls), Rose Byrne (Bad Neighbors), Corey Stoll (House Of Cards), Kathryn Hahn (Bad Words), Connie Britton (Nashville), Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Dax Shephard (Parenthood), and Jane Fonda (The Butler) all star as characters caught up in a web of dysfunction, thrown together by grief. The official synopsis provides a more in-depth view:
“When their father passes away, four grown siblings – bruised and banged up by their respective adult lives – are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. Confronting their history and the frayed states of their relationships among the people who know and love them best, they ultimately reconnect in hysterical and emotionally affecting ways amid the chaos, humour, heartache and redemption that only families can provide – driving us insane even as they remind us of our truest, and often best, selves.”
So, don’t expect this to be another Cheaper By The Dozen chapter – despite having Shawn Levy at the helm. This movie will be seated firmly in the ‘heartwarming comedy-drama’ section, with nary an animated museum relic in sight – which can only be a good thing. Watching the trailer, it becomes clear that what we have here is more of a study in how a family, who has drifted apart, comes back together in a time of crisis – and how they move forward from that reconnection.
Make no mistake, it is the cast that’s been assembled here that people will be paying their admission prices to see. Though the source novel is popular, the film does not really seem to be breaking much new ground in terms of cinema. The most interesting aspect of this is Bateman and Fey starring as siblings – particularly since Fey seems to be playing somebody other than 30 Rock‘s Liz Lemon, for a change. The heavy trailer emphasis on banter between the offspring suggests that this is the big draw – which is understandable, as this is what these guys excel at. Then there is Jane Fonda – legend of the silver screen that she is – who still has the uncanny ability to draw the attention of any scene she is in, with only the power of that incredible and instantly recognizable voice.
Yes, This Is Where I Leave You looks like a film that is exactly what you would expect it to be, based on the cast list and synopsis. But hey, we don’t need surprises every time we go to the cinema, do we? We’ll find out for sure when it is released on September 12th, 2014.
