THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU

My fervent regret is that I did not LEAVE after the first twenty minutes, when I realized that the entire “Altman” family was catastrophically boring, self-absorbed, inconsequential; their common denominator, an obsessive, insatiable,  all-consuming focus on their libido. With the exception of a charming child (whose parentage was vague) I woefully sat through the entire dull scenario, which disintegrated scene by scene.

Jason Bateman and Tina Fey have to break this predictable, overbearing, redundant characterization of ageing, unaccountable adolescents; they play brother and sister (“Judd”, and “Wendy Altman”);   Adam Driver and Corey Stoll are palatable in mini -doses as “Philip” and “Paul” Altman. Rose Byrne as nutty “Penny”, will eventually be a perfect fit with the dyspeptic Altman clan.

The majority of my chagrin was devoted to the character of “Hillary Altman” (Jane Fonda); an inflated, pneumatic matriarch, flaunting her burgeoning chest at her husband’s funeral, shiva; her sexual reminiscences in front of family and friends, elicited minimal chuckles and major groans from an audience that relished the book by Jonathan Tropper.

“This Is Where I leave You” erases the boundaries between intimacy and disclosure; accountability and negligence; lust and love, leaving a sad, sorry portrait of folks who could have been so much better.

ONE & 1/2 STARS!!

Peneflix