Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Table of Content

• Nerdlocker Movie Review: Black Adam
• 'Jeff': A Tempting Tale Of Fate, Or Something Like It
• Nerdlocker Movie Review: Empire of Light
• Co-workers of cop who killed 3 in California took items from his home before official search
• 'SNL' Cast Targets Hitler, Kanye In Delusional Hope They Can Sing Away Trouble At Christmas

When it isn’t trying to out-zany a French farce, the film meanders as aimlessly as its protagonist, leading to a deus ex machina dénouement which feels contrived and atypically ‘Hollywood’. That seasick-inducing, 24-style camera work has got to stop. He has no friends, no love life, and does little beyond smoke weed and refine a philosophy that argues there's no such thing as chance and everything is connected. So, when someone calling a wrong number asks for "Kevin," Jeff begins his search. His tightly wound brother, Pat , is undergoing a mid-life crisis.

That key, Jeff thinks, is that the universe is filled with meaningful Coincidences, and all you must do is remain alert to them, and your destiny will take care of itself. This is probably iron-clad logic if you smoke pot in the basement for long enough. Despite being two of the best indie actors around, Helms and Greer don’t add a lot (as the angry, goatee-wearing, Porsche-buying, mid-life crisis sufferer, Helms feels miscast). Sarandon’s subplot offers grace notes, and she even gets a Thelma & Louise moment. What I hoped for was a heart-warming experience similar to what I felt when watching Garden State, my all-time favorite movie – and that was, fortunately, precisely what I got. Before that, Jeff plays basketball with a young, open-faced black guy whom he thinks is a sign from the universe.

Nerdlocker Movie Review: Black Adam

His work here presents him with an opportunity to re-shape his image. Really enjoyed watching this, it's a film that brings on a sense of warmth from watching. The plot, such as it is, is triggered by a request from Jeff's mom -- who on this day is sad to admit that she's celebrating her birthday alone -- that he run a simple errand for her. She's also got a secret admirer who's been sending her romantic instant messages that she receives constantly in her cubicle, and she happily if warily conducts a flirtation with her unknown suitor. Segel tries to work his big-lovable-lug magic, which served him well in “The Muppets” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” But it feels a little lethargic this go-round.

Thirty-year-old Jeff , isn't the only one who starts this film lacking some direction. There's his brother Pat , a crass retail manager who opens the film trying to butter up his wife with an elaborate breakfast in the hopes that she'll finally let him buy that Porsche he's been eyeing. We get the impression they're all waiting around for the Universe to whack them over the head with a 2x4 sign, and in the last act, it does. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.

'Jeff': A Tempting Tale Of Fate, Or Something Like It

I'd venture to bet that most people go through a period of angst trying to decipher the meaning of life in their own way. I went through mine during my early twenties, about a decade before Jeff did. At some point however you figure out that you better get on the stick or you'll find yourself with no cash and even fewer prospects.

The film “Signs’’ inspires his musings, which a cut to wider angle reveals are being conducted from a toilet. Jeff is about 30 and lives in the basement of Sharon’s Baton Rouge house. He gets high and has no ostensible job until the final 15 minutes, when the cosmos forces importance upon him.

Nerdlocker Movie Review: Empire of Light

But whereas Signs had Shymalan's signature suspense and mystery to back itself up, Jeff just seems to merely meander. Maybe there's just something more to it, but the idiosyncratic style and uneven shifts between comedic and dramatic tones muddle down whatever the movie wants to say. When Jeff gets an arbitrary sign through a phone call, it puts his world into an unexplainable focus to reaching his destiny while fighting-off the negative reactions from his brother and mother. The end result is a new view of Jeff as someone who is fearless, and open to seeing the world as it really is and not just as a spectator passing through it.

Segel is just about the perfect choice for this role because there is just something about him that you find disarming and comfortable no matter what he is doing. If you are looking for a typical Segel comedy this is not it. This one has more substance and heart and is very much worth watching. Overall, if you liked "Everything Must Go" then this movie is for you. Jeff, Who Lives at Home climaxes with one of those big scenes that brings all the characters together and resolves most of the plot threads.

Discovering the identity of the mystery person isn't that difficult. All you have to do is to follow the economy of characters in that office and you'll figure it out long before it is revealed. I'm reading some of the reviews for the film and starting to feel sorry for some of the folks who didn't see the humor here. There were some genuine laugh out loud moments in the first half before Jeff's mission started to materialize. However for this flick to work, forget about the randomness of the universe.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home is short enough not to wear out its welcome but the payoff is so slim that the investment of any serious time or effort is unlikely to be repaid in full. All of this takes place in one day, a slapstick-filled Bloomsday for characters more Bloom County than James Joyce , within a setting as blandly American as what most of us see out our front door. The movie is shot without fuss, nothing arty, just drab reality. The Duplass brothers, who co-wrote and co-directed, cut between Pat and Jeff’s adventure and Sharon’s day at her office job, where things, including a revelation about a secret admirer, actually happen to her. (A 60-something woman with a storyline? Hallelujah.) Sarandon gives a terrific performance as the kind of woman she has rarely played, a little insecure and a lot lonely. It’s a winning cast all the way around, Greer, Rae Dawn Chong (playing one of Sharon’s co-workers) and Helms , who is hilariously odious and then surprisingly vulnerable.

My admitted bias is that I now really enjoy in movies what I have always enjoyed in life, seeing different people, hearing their ideas, absorbing the interaction around me. More all the time I enjoy movies which focus on the interpersonal actions of the characters and all else is stage sets. A touching independent film, Jason Segel and Ed Helms drive this movie's story on fate and destiny. Jason Segel plays as Jeff, a man who doesn't do much with his life but believes that everything and everyone in the world is connected. As he begins to unravel what he believes is his own destiny he finds that what he does influences not only him but his mother and brother as well. The film is one of the more charming ones that has come out this year, reminding me of works by Jason Reitman who happened to also be a co-producer.

What happens next can best be described as a Melodramatic Event that isn't terribly likely but is terrifically effective in lowering a one-size-fits-all deus ex machina into the plot. It's all cute and self-aware, a pleasant joke on the audience, a happy ending for characters we like. It's not a Feel Good Movie, more of a Feel Sorta Good Movie. James Mottram is a freelance film journalist, author of books that dive deep into films like Die Hard and Tenet, and a regular guest on the Total Film podcast. You'll find his writings on GamesRadar+ and Total Film, and in newspapers and magazines from across the world like The Times, The Independent, The i, Metro, The National, Marie Claire, and MindFood.

'SNL' Cast Targets Hitler, Kanye In Delusional Hope They Can Sing Away Trouble At Christmas

This time around, the cast is in place, but the deliberately bare-bones plot fails to coalesce into anything resembling a satisfying story. To me the film was like a cross between a Wes Anderson film and The Office. It has the odd, quirky indie charm of an Anderson picture but the awkward humour and filming style of The Office. Unfortunately it was neither as good as any Wes Anderson film I've seen nor The Office.

I hope I don’t make him sound like Forrest Gump, but his enthusiasm and optimism is infectious. This is the kind of Jeff who lives at home and also in your heart. In this surprisingly touching comedy from the Duplass brothers, Jason Segel plays Jeff, who lives at home and by the end, also in your heart.

Like CYRUS, this owes a lot to the Duplass Bros., mumblecore origins, with it seemingly shot on lower-grade digital, possibly hand-held cameras, just like CYRUS. Some of the dialogue also seems to be improvised, with the exchanges between Segel and Ed Helms (who seems to be playing Andy Bernard with a goatee here- no complaints) having a natural, unscripted feel. The film also has a very nice score by Michael Andrews, heavily reminiscent of his excellent soundtrack for Miranda July's ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW . It discusses about the alienation between family members as well as our inability to understand the different in all aspects of life, respect it and just nurture it. It also gets into the marital issues that drive so many couples apart.