‘Jeff, Who Lives at Home’ has funny actors in semi-serious roles

It takes a while for the disparate elements of Jeff, Who Lives at Home to come together into an interesting narrative, but once they do, this little from from Jay and Mark Duplass proves to be something special. Featuring funny actors in semi-serious roles, the 83-minute movie is not going to be for every viewer. At times, its pacing feels labored and the ambitions of the filmmakers seems quite muted. But there is an understated beauty behind these characters, much like Cedar Rapids, a similar movie that looks at life through a comedic lens, but ultimately has something of dramatic value to say about the world.

Segel plays the titular character, a man who has difficulty finding purpose in life. He lives in his mother’s basement and doesn’t get along with his only brother, Pat (Ed Helms). When his mother, Sharon (Susan Sarandon), asks him to fix something in the house, Jeff begins a day’s journey to find something that will snap him from the mundaneness of his existence. Along the way, he smokes some marijuana, plays a pick-up game of basketball, discovers that his brother’s wife (Judy Greer) is cheating and follows “signs” toward a surprising revelation.

The film cleverly defines the humanity behind Jeff, Pat and Sharon. Each of these family members has grown apart from one another, but Jeff tries to keep the bond alive. In many ways, there are similarities between Jeff and Paul Rudd’s character in Our Idiot Brother — two impossibly nice guys who don’t seem to fit into society’s molds.

Helms offers a dedicated performance as the brother with a strange attitude toward life, a man who buys a fancy sports car without bothering to ask his fiancé what she thinks. Sarandon’s character goes through perhaps the most crushing arc; she finds herself middle-aged, facing more years of lonesomeness and a sudden secret admirer around the workplace.

The film also features a strong performance from Greer, one of our best comedic actresses, a woman with an endless amount of creative line deliveries. She seems to pop up in so many quietly effective films that her presence is taken for granted in Hollywood.

The Duplass brothers have some funny one-liners, but they are more often interested in making us genuinely feel for these characters rather than laugh out loud at their antics. The ending is surprising and somewhat contrived, but by the final minutes, the brother directors have won us over, so we forgive them any slight transgressions.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home won’t change the world, but it will put a smile on one’s face.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Jeff, Who Lives at Home

• 2012

• Written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass

• Starring Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon and Judy Greer

• Running time: 83 minutes

• Rated R for language including sexual references and some drug use

• Rating: